Exiled
by Nutbrain
Summary: Kicked out of his gym by his best friend, Volkner has no where to go. And even if he did Team Dim Galatic Dim Sun and Galatic has taken that choice out of his hands. Locked up in a prison there has been talk of a conductor but what could that be?
1. Chapter 1

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"What?"

Two men where standing in the back room of the Sunnyshore gym. Before the recent conversation had started up, you might have been able to call them best friends. A blond and a red head. Surprisingly it wasn't the red head yelling., but instead the blond.

"You heard me Volk. I'm sorry but there was a vote, and I'm just the one to tell you." Flint rubbed the back of his head. The flamboyant red head really didn't want to be the one to do this.

"But Flint, I don't understand! How can you just kick me out of my position as eighth gym leader?!" Electricity almost sparked from Volkner's hair as he screamed this, barely keeping his rage in check.

"I already told you! The league thinks your putting too much of a strain on the town…"

"City."

"Okay city whatever. Anyway, your renovations put too much of a budget strain on this city. So they've found someone else to take your place. It's nothing personal. Just business." Volkner glared at Flint with unrestrained hatred in his eyes.

"You said you took a vote. How did you vote?"

"Ah, man Volk. You can't ask me that."

"If you refuse to tell me I can only assume the worst."

"You have no proof of that."

"You were supposed to be my friend."

"I am your friend!"

"Friends don't do that to friends."

"That's ridiculous. I would never…"

"Never say never. You voted to have me kicked out of Sunnyshore!"

"That's ludicrous! You're not kicked out of Sunnyshore!" Volkner closed his eyes and silently rubbed the bridge of his nose, attempting, at least, to keep calm.

"Flint," Volkner said calmly, "Kicking a gym leader out of a gym is like keeping them from their city, maybe even their region. Do you have any idea what this will do to my reputation? Did you even think, before you voted for this new leader, what I might feel about this?"

"No…" Flint stared at the ground, like a child being scolded.

"Exactly. How long before I have to leave?"

"Tomorrow morning." The elite silently replied. Volkner sighed. He was expecting more time. Now that the rage had finally burned out, there was nothingness left. Nothingness and…the strong sense that he had been betrayed.

After Flint had left, Volkner went to bed. He had already packed, Flint attempting to help in to no avail. He was only iced out. When Flint stepped out the front door, Cynthia was waiting for him.

"How'd it go?" She asked quietly, knowing the answer just from Flint's expression.

"Horrible. He couldn't have taken the news worst. And he guessed that I voted against him."

"You didn't tell him…"

"No I didn't tell him that no voted _for_ him. He would have been crushed."

"I know…Poor man."

"He'll still be able to live in Sunnyshore, right? Even if he moves he'll still be in Sinnoh?"

"No, probably not. Once someone's disgraced in such a manner, there not very likely to stick around."

"Oh…I had no idea." Flint trailed off in thought, dejected. He'd just alienated his best friend from everything he'd lived for, strived for. His position, reputation...pride. All gone now. It would be a silent trip home.

That night Volkner lay in bed, cherishing the sight of his beloved gym. The last time he'd ever see it. He had put so much of his time into the meticulous rotation of the various mechanisms that sprawled throughout the complex. _'Why? Why would Flint and the others do such a thing?'_ He just couldn't make himself understand. Most of all, there was the pain of his own best friend not standing by him. At least supporting his position. He knew Flint had automatically agreed. Heck, he knew all the members of the league agreed. These things weighed heavily on his heart. He sighed sat up and look around at his now bare room. Nothingness. That all he was now. A shell of the person that once was. But then, from some overwhelming depth the sadness came. And refused to stop. As soon as it had filled up the nothingness, it burst through his eyes, streaming down his face. All he could do is rest his head in his hands and let it all run out. Out until the numbness of nothingness replaced the sorrow that was rapidly leaving him. After his eyes had all but dried up, he fell exhausted onto the bed, his eyes drifting closed until finally he was sound asleep.

The morning came too quickly for Volkner who was still worn out from the unusual bout of tears last night. If it was for the feeling of dried tears on his face he would have guessed he had dreamt it. After washing the last remaining bits of sorrow that clung to him like a spider's web, he composed himself. He guessed that the new leader would be waiting outside for him to leave so he or she could promptly move in. For the time being she probably wouldn't renovate the gym much. After all, that was what got him kicked out.

As he was leaving he ran his hands across the walls one last time relishing their feeling. This was his home. For a brief moment the unstoppable urge to fight for what was his rose up from whatever place the previous night's sadness had welled up from. But just as quickly, it died down to nothing but bitter grief and despair as he thought it through. What could he do against the whole elite four? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Come to think of it, he hadn't told his pokemon yet. He should, after all this was their home too. _'I guess I better give them the option of staying too…'_ The thought of being apart from them brought up the feeling of sadness that he thought had departed. After releasing them from their balls, he described the situation, giving them their options. After running around one last time they all thankfully came back to their poke balls. Or so he thought. After glancing around just for old times sake, he turned to go.

_"LUXRAY!"_

"Do you want to stay here then?" Another shake. "Do you want to follow?" It nodded, albeit slowly. The almost ex-gym leader smiled, and turned towards the doors, knowing that when he stepped out of them, that it was the end. 'Well, maybe not the end end, but close enough' he thought. Luxray looked up at him in understanding and nodded. Volkner sighed. No point in putting it off. Heck maybe it was a joke and he could just push Flint off of one of the conveniently placed cliffs. But he seriously doubted it. Another sigh as he pushed open the door and stepped out into the blazing sun.

Volkner shielded his eyes with he hand as they adjusted. At first there was no one to be seen but then…then he could see the shape of the five elites and one other petite figure. Looking closer he could see that she was female, dishwater blond hair that fell just a little under her shoulder. Her skin glowed in the sun from her faint tan that contrasted perfectly with her crème and red colored sun dress.

"Volkner this is Maybelene. She's your uh…" Cynthia started strong but failed towards the ending.

"Replacement?"

"Yes, if you put it that way." The champion looked relieved.

"What type?"

"Electric." the girl had a pretty, shy voice.

"Hmm. Well you're a perfect replacement then. Well I'm off. No point in hanging around." And with that he was off, leaving the other's to just stare.

"He seemed…so different." Flint noted, in a saddened tone.

"Well what did you expect Flint? Him to be just fine with it?" Lucian snapped.  
"Well, at least it'll spending impact on the town now." Bertha chipped in. Flint took off.

"Flint comeback y…"

"Don't Cynthia. Let him be." and with that Lucian turned on his heel, opened his book and teleported himself to the league.

By the time Flint caught up with Volkner they were already half way across town and closing distance the exit rapidly.

"Hey! Volk, have a nice vacation!" No response.

"Catch a lot of pokemon, and remember keep away from those beedrill!" Still no response. By now they were almost to separator gate.

"Volk…we're still friends. Right?" At that Volkner tensed and halted causing the red head to run into his back. Volkner slowly turned on his heel. Luxray growled and sparked. Flint was afraid to look in Volkner's eyes. And rightfully so. What he saw there was a mixture of hate, hurt, rage, betrayal, sadness, resentment, and so many other indescribably emotions. That look would haunt him for the rest of his life, causing him to wake up screaming in the middle of the night. Then everything was gone, and was replaced by nothingness. Slowly he untensed his muscles and sighed.

"I don't know. Probably not, after what you did to me." And through the door he went. And Flint wondered if he'd ever see him again. Not knowing that what happened would lead up to something that would inevitable put Volkner's life on the line, and cause him an unmeasured amount of pain.


	2. Chapter 2

Sorry for the long time it took to update it. I was being lazy I guess... I don't really know when the next chapter will come out after this, because school's been atrociusly long. Anyway I hope you enjoy!

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It was raining. For some reason it was always raining in this area. Volkner had already made the trek through Pastoria. Wake, who had obviously not heard the news yet, bugged him with petty things like the condition of the Marsh, the amount of rain fall, how his Quagsire could school all of Volkner's pokemon, and so on, and so on until Volkner felt his brain would rot away and ooze out his ear. But thankfully a challenger ran up to, well, challenge. Unfortunately that meant Volkner was introduced as 8th Gym Leader, causing a severe pain in his chest where his pride was no longer residing there. But there was nothing let for him in this place.

As he thought about it, his best course of action would be to head straight up the Snowpoint city. From there he could catch one of the ships that left from there everyday, hopefully avoiding the other gym leaders in the process, though that was highly unlikely. But the last person he probably wanted to run into was Cynthia's grandma. He despised that old crone with a passion. She'd was too outspoken, saying whatever came to mind. And that was the last thing he needed. In the past he'd barely suppressed the urge to yell at her, and give her a piece of _his _mind. But he never did. He was in check then. In control. But now…now what did he have?

Sighing Volkner trudged along deep in thought, barely giving a notice to the rustling of the bushes, or the various pairs of eyes that watched him as he walked.

**Elite Four HQ**

"Should I call him? Ask him what he's doing?" Flint questioned to no one in particular. The league was eating their lunches, while the bright cheery sunlight shone down on them in stark contrast with the mood that was slithering and oozing into every part of the building.

"NO! Flint for the last time wait a little bit! Even if it's just for an hour. Let us finish our lunches." Lucian rubbed his forehead. He might not be psychic like Sabrina, or empathetic like Will, but he still got blinding head aches when Flint talked too much. _'It must be his exhaustingly loud voice. Stupid migraines.'_ He couldn't quite place a finger on it, but he figured it had something to do with being around psychic pokemon too much. He needed a vacation. But if he took one now he might run into Volkner…

"Are you sure? Well ya, I guess your right as usual Lucian. Still though…"

"Give it rest will ya Flint? I'm trying to concentrate." Aaron interjected, rubbing his temples.

"Ya, shut up Aaron. Put your Butterfly Boy Weekly away. That stuffs for girls." Flint said now irritated.

"It's 'Bug Catcher Weekly' and it is _not _girl stuff!"

"Then how come it's pink with flowery print pages?"

"They're not pink, its fuchsia and…"

"GIVE IT A REST!!! Both of you! My migraine is now worse than ever thanks to you two!" And with that everyone subsided into silence. Until…

"I still think it's a girl's magazine no matter what you say." Flint whispered, receiving a particularly vicious glare from Lucian.

**In the bogs**

'_This is ridiculous!' _Volkner almost screamed aloud, and his Luxray putting his tail between his legs and shying away from his master's frustration, which was almost visible in the air around them. Volkner had gotten his foot stuck (for the gazillionth time) in the mud. Finally, his foot gave, but over balanced as he was, fell smack dab on his butt. Right into the gooey mud. Volkner rolled his eyes, and silently beat his head on his knees. Luxray hated seeing its master beat himself up like that. He would probably have bruises the next day. Volkner sighed (it seemed to be becoming a habit for him). Volkner picked himself up off of the ground.

'_Almost half way through it now…'_ That was good. Soon he'd be on dry land, and from there up to Hearthome city. Or so he thought. Maybe it was Veilstone…No, that was the road that went past the route for Sunnyshore. Hearthome it was. Hopefully Fatina wouldn't be in. She normally wasn't. For some reason very few gym leaders would actually stay in their gyms. He normally did. Except for the lighthouse. For some reason he loved it there. But that was gone now. All gone. Taken away from him by…by his best friend. The one who he trusted, leaned on. Flint had been like a brother to him. But that was over. He'd been betrayed. Betrayed.

So much in thought about his woes, he failed to notice the sound of numerous, albeit quiet, footsteps that were approaching the spot where he was not walking. Now on dry land. Where they were waiting. Yes, soon. Very soon.

**Elite Four HQ**

"I'm gonna call him now. Ya, now seems like a good time." Flint said absent mindedly.

"Whatever floats your boat Flint, dear." Bertha said, in her old lady voice.

"Well, fire pokemon don't do too well in water, so it probably would be best if the boat floated." Flint said, not quiet grasping the concept. Bertha knew this and decided to take mercy on him.

"Yes dear, exactly. So why don't you give your friend a call. Ask him if you can meet him somewhere before he leaves."

"Ya, that's what I'll do. Thanks Grandma." Flint had a habit of saying that even if they were in no way related. But Bertha was old, and Flint was just a shuffle short of a playing card, so she was now called grandma. That's not saying she liked it. She actually preferred to console herself with the fact that Agatha was quiet a bit older than her. Not to mention meaner…

"Okay, 5-3-2-9-2-1-8." Flint said as he dialed, tongue sticking out in concentration on the task at hand it started ringing.

**In the bogs**

Volkner felt his phone vibrate before he heard the ringer. He knew who was calling, thanks to the special ring that was attached to Flint's cell phone. The red-head had already called him two previous times. Once on the route leading from Sunnyshore, and once on the route right outside Pastoria City. Volkner (once again) sighed bracing himself for the inevitable. He'd have to pick up. Volkner flicked open the phone.

"Flint?"

That was there chance. The chance they needed. The one moment where he'd think of nothing else but that one word. That's when they made their move, deftly they signaled each other in conformation and attacked. The ex-gym leader barely had time for a "Wha?" And he was on the ground. His Luxray was hit be a succession of ground-type moves before it could no longer take it and fell exhausted to the ground. The man, held down on the ground by various grunts was brutally abused with punches to the face and stomach, administered by yet another grunt. Ironically all the blond could do _was_ grunt. In pain and exasperation. Finally he drifted into unconsciousness. Their superior had not a clue where to phone went, but didn't really care. He just left it there.

"Securely chain him up. I don't want him escaping. When we get to the copter, cuff him to the wall in a painful position. If he wakes up, use the same procedure to knock him out." Their leader told one of the higher ranking grunts.

"Yes, Sir!" With a salute the grunt marched off.

Volkner had barely had time to answer Flint when he heard the sound of fast, quiet footsteps. Then they were on him.

"Wha?" Was all he could manage before he was overwhelmed and knocked to the ground, held there by a couple burly grunts. The phone was knocked out of his hand and into the bushes somewhere just as he heard Luxray cry out and faint. Though he struggled, there was no way he could break free. He got a look at the one in charge. Dark blue hair, and strange futuristic looking outfit (more stylish than the grunts but still atrocious). He was fairly tall, and had cold, calculating look to his eyes. And then his view was blocked by another grunt that pounded a barrage of fist into his stomach and face. He struggled gallantly, grunting in pain as each hit found its way home, but to no avail. Volkner was finally lost to the dark, fuzzy blackness of unconsciousness.

**Elite Four HQ**

Flint's efforts where finally rewarded when Volkner answered the phone with a hostile,

"Flint?" The fire-type user was about to respond when he heard a "Wha?" and the sound of a phone dropping. There was a human cry (sounded much like Volkner's) and then the sound of a Luxray fainting. _'What on Earth?'_ Then there were the grunts of struggle, then pain.

"Volk? Volkner? Hey what's going on…" Flint fell silent at the sound of talking.

"Securely chain him up. I…want him escaping. When we get to the…, cuff him to the wall… a painful position. If he wakes up, use the same procedure to knock him out." Parts where inaudible but Flint got the meaning all the same as a cold voice rang across the small speaker. Flint gasped. Leaving the phone on the table as he rushed off to alert Cynthia he missed the affirming "Yes, Sir!" that soon followed.

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I really hope you enjoyed this! If you have time please comment. Critisim and the pointing out of my mistakes helps me get better, and thank you to the wonderful two people who commented on the first chapter! If you hadn't I might have assumed everyone who read this hated it :D Cookies for you!


	3. Chapter 3

**Elite Four HQ**

"CYNTHIA! Cynthia, where are you! CYNTHIA!!!" Flint barreled through the halls top speed screaming at the top of his lungs. Maybe, just maybe, if he got everyone ready they could save Volkner from whatever fate was planned for him. Pictures and people whirred past him in a blur. Purple Lucian, navy blue maids, green (Flint thought he might have seen pink too, and if this weren't such a dire situation, he would have commented on that fact) Aaron all in a flash. They yelled at him demanded what was going on, but he didn't have time he had to find Cynthia before it was too late.

He streaked past a black blur that yelled a disgruntled 'What is it?', his mind racing too fast to comprehend, then suddenly he skidded to a stop and pivoted around.

"Thank goodness, Cynthia! Something horrible happened we need to leave right now!"

"What is it that's so urgent?" Flint done this before. Once when the Go-Rock Quads released their new album and another time when he was featured as an ice-cream flavor. '_I don't have time for this right now!' _She had to prepare for the gym leaders meeting to initiate the new 8th gym leader. She had to come up with a decent speech to the leaders to win them on her side of the what was voted. Volkner was popular with his co-workers and trainers, and the Elite 4 had accidentally overlooked the detail that the gym leaders had a vote too…This could all go south very fast.

"Volkner's been taken! I called him and when he picked up, he was attacked and beat into unconsciousness or something. I overheard their conversation and they planned to load him on a helicopter in some sort of painful way, and if he woke up they'd beat him again."

"Are you sure?" Cynthia knew that Flint had an active imagination with a habit of blowing things out of extortion. She often wondered how Volkner put up with it all the time and about made the mistake of mentioning this out loud.

"YES I AM SURE! Isn't that the reason you record all of my phone messages, so I don't get info mixed up?"

"Yes, so let's go see what really happened."

"We don't have time! Every second we waste Volkner has a worse chance of ever being seen again!" By this time Lucian and Aaron had walked up to see what all the commotion was about. Bertha came up behind Flint so that there were three on one side and two on the other. This seemed to work out perfectly, because they all pretty much shared the same opinion. 3 for reviewing the tape and two for just going out and finding Volkner. An argument quickly insued, making Cynthia wonder if Lance ever had these problems. She already knew Steven did, which was why he left. Rocks was only his cover story.

"ENOUGH! We _will_ go review those tapes whether you like it or not. You and Bertha can go, but neither of you have any flying pokemon on you now so you might as well wait for us. That's final." And with that Cynthia stormed down the hall to the records room. Smug Lucian and jittery Aaron were right on her heels, while a dejected Flint walked further back, Bertha trying to console him all the way. For some reason he got the feeling that it was too late.

**Somewhere in the sky…**

Volkner started to stir. He didn't dare open his eyes because the current position he was in right now told him what had happened wasn't all a dream. His arms were twisted together above his head so that his right arm was chained on the right side and his left the left but in a strange sort of twist that felt as though it were wrenching his arms out of the sockets. His legs were behind him twisted in some weird position that was made so that that all the weight went painstakingly on his knees. He thought about opening his eyes to look, but that was before he heard the hushed:

"Sam, I think he's stirring! Should I beat him again?"

"Na, we're almost there and the last time you thought he was waking up he was still quite unconscious. Wait till his eyes open."

"If you say so…" They then trailed off into silence. Volkner ran a check over the rest of his body. There wasn't a whole lot he could tell at the moment, at least not without looking, and he did _not_ want another beating. Then he remembered his Luxray. _'Oh no, what happened to him? Did they kill him, is he wounded and dieing somewhere, or being experimented on?' _His only friend. Well, he did feel the weight on his waist from the other pokemon, but Luxray had been his longest companion, well, besides Flint. But that brought back memories. And hurt. But then, strangely there was a new feeling. Was it, hope? Yes, it was. But why?

'_But why? Think Volkner, think!' _Then he remembered. The phone! Yes it was still on when it flew from his hands! Maybe just maybe Flint had heard and would help! But, then his negative side kicked in. What if he had just hung up, or it had landed in the mud and was so muffled no one could hear. Maybe it was crushed underfoot. Who knows…And Flint. Flint might not come at all. But he always had in the past. Like the time…No it was too painful to remember. It only enforced the hurt, the pain, the depression. Volkner was about to sigh aloud when the plane touched the ground with a bump. The jar sent pain spiking through his appendages and he gave a muffled scream of pain, gritting his teeth against the worst.

"Well I say he's awake now. I'll put the bag on him." The man's comrade grunted in approval as Volkner felt the vibrations in the floor and then utter nothingness.

* * *

"Waky, waky!" Someone chimed in his face. Volkner grunted and rolled over, only to have pain course through his body. He gave a small scream of pain then panted heavily, gradually opening his eyes, taking in his surroundings. Around him ominous looking machines that beeped and whirred loomed from every section of the room. Some even covered parts of the wall. He could only guess what they were for.

"Heeeeeelllllo Sunshine! Wake up and smell the roses." This odd voice said from somewhere behind him. It was only then that he noticed he was strapped on the table with cords attached to his wrist.

"Your readings are healthy, and when exposed to pain your body acts nicely in return. I think you do fine."

"Fine? For what?" Was all Volkner could muster.

"For being the conduc…Whoopsies! Not supposed to tell you! Naughty, naughty boy! Getting me to spill the beans." The odd man with large glasses, sing-song voice, and frazzled brown hair shook he finger at him. He was the classic evil scientist from all of Flint's corny movies. Yes he'd said it. But this time, he found himself wishing he was in the movie as an actor.

"Oh, I could just have so much fun taking you apart!' At this Volkner grimaced. "But it's not so! The superior have such plans for you! Such plans! Well boys take him away." The 'boys' were hulking mountains of muscle, but this time, they weren't dressed in the futuristic costumes. The were clothed in black with a blazing yellow DS (***D**im **S**un) print on their shirts. One snickered menacingly, and moved toward him, putting his meety hand on Volker chest to hold him down while the other untied his restraints. Volkner gasped aloud in pain as the cords were cruelly yanked off of him.

"Try to be careful please! There are people that would be very unhappy if you were to damage him!" They just grunted in response and then tightly gripped his arms, roughly heaving him off of the table. The two monstrous men proceeded to then drag him through dark hallways and sinister looking rooms, everyone moved out of their way, as if afraid he would suddenly start to fight his captors and they knew they didn't want to get stuck in that skirmish. Then Volkner saw where they were taking him and he was filled with terror that he didn't even know existed. He'd heard of places like this from the reports that Lance had given on his various missions.

He started to struggle feebly at first and then with more intensity kicking and screaming as they drug him into the bowels of the earth. The scent of decay and rot was the first of the horrible thing to assail his senses. Then in the dark tunnel there was a light, though now more than ever he wished he was blind.

Along the walls were holding cells if that's what you could describe them as. Most bars were crooked and bent, and almost all stained with blood. The pale light shadowed part of the small rooms, most housing nothing but horrible mutilated skeletons, other though, had fresher inhabitants, though none alive. Rats skittered across the floor, their eyes glowing red. Volkner caught a glimpse of one and wished he hadn't. It was horrible mutated from either disease or something Volkner wished to know nothing about. By this time he had stopped kicking and allowed himself to be drug along, his feet carving ruts into the ground.

The party came to a stop in front of a cell that was mostly empty, save a few left over bones in the corner. But those bones told a gruesome story that the poor blonde didn't want to think about.

"This'll be your resting cell for the night until we make room for you elsewhere. Just hope one of the torturers don't make you their next victim." Then it was confirmed. This was a torture chamber, which meant it would be rife with disease. Maybe it hadn't been used for a little bit.

"Then again they just had fresh victims. But the rats haven't." And with those cruel words the ex-gym leader was alone. He crawled into the cleaner corner by the wall, away from the skeleton and cried. Cried with pain. Cried with anguish. Cried with fear, betrayal, and sadness. Cried until mercy was taken upon him and he drifted into a comfortable sleep.

**Elite 4 HQ**

Cynthia had painstakingly gone over the recording again and again until it was decided that Flint was right and Volkner, was indeed, missing.

"Well, Flint you were right. Let's go look for Volkner."

"I could have told you that! By now they're long gone! If it had been anyone else in that predicament you would have rushed to their aid! But no! It was Volkner, _my_ friend, so that meant he took backseat. I'm as of now holding you three responsible for whatever happens to him." Cynthia sighed and release her Garchomp, hoping that if she did Flint would get a move on.

"But Flint, us arguing here we could lose valuable information. Information in the form of surroundings and people. There could be some leftover grunts still there." Cynthia knew there wouldn't be. She'd already recognized the voice as Saturn, one of the head admins of Galactic, which didn't bode well. After digging into their boss, Cyrus, history, she'd discovered on a chance meeting he didn't hit it off so well the 8th gym leader, who at a time hadn't even started training.

"Let's get going. Time's a wasting." And with that the Elite Four mobilized.

**Somewhere in the bogs…**

"Ugh! Look at all that disgusting mud down there!" Aaron exclaimed, looking at the ground in disgust. The last thing he wanted to do was go trudging through _that_.

"Aaron! I happen to quite like the mud! It has a nice homely smell to it." Bertha exclaimed. Aaron just scrunched his nose up and coached his Vespquien to fly higher. Bertha then glanced over at Flint who was flying low to the ground meticulously scanning everything slightly suspicious. She frowned and shook her head in sorrow. He wasn't taking this well. Glancing back at the ground she gasped. Could it? Yes it was!

"Quick down there!" Bertha shouted pointing to the ground. Flint followed her finger and gasped, promptly swooping down on his Starvia, jumping off of her back before they even landed. He rushed over the blue form sliding to a stop and sinking to his knees. It was Volkner's Luxray, who had been his friend longer than he could remember. Tears rolled down his face as he took in its condition. Though it was breathing it was still barely alive. The poor creatures wounds were so extensive he feared it wouldn't last much longer.

Lucian walked up behind Flint and rested his hand on the pokemon's forehead. Flint was about to ask him very impolitely what the _heck _he thought he was doing when he saw Lucian's eyes close in concentration.

"Well?"

"It put up a valiant effort but in the end it was unable to protect its master. Inside its struggling with personal physical weakness, trying to get back up, to pursue. Luxray's refusing to give up on its lifelong friend." Flint looked down at the weakened pokemon. Volkner had been his lifelong friend too. But he had gotten him into the predicament. Though he tried to blame it on the others he was unable to so because deep inside he knew there was no one else to blame except for himself.

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Sorry it took so long. I kept getting side tracked when I went to put this up. I hope you enjoyed it :D


	4. Chapter 4

Note, I'll be updating this chapter soon. I just typed this all in school, so I'm missing the first part. And my computer at home self destructed. Consequently I have to wait till Christmas until I get my new computer. But I'm hoping to maybe type another one in school. No promises though.

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When Volkner woke up that morning, he was for a minute, unsure of where he was. He took a deep breath and gasped in main. His bruised body hadn't taken well to all the recent poking and prodding. It didn't help that the needle marks hurt too. He didn't know why they had needed so many samples of his blood, but they did.

The cell door creaked and he looked up sharply. A little too sharply, for it sent a lance of pain running through him. What he saw was two bulking figures framing the doorway. They had been the harborjures of his torment for the last three days.

"You ready to go, sunshine?" The first said with a malicious grin. It was just too much for Volkner to take anymore and he blacked out.

"You really must stop scaring him you big oafs! His blood pressure it rising, and the more it rises the less electricity he'll be able to stand, and he won't be able to stand it for as long! I'll probably have to put him on meds!" The frizzy haired scientist tutted and turned to his machine.

"It's not us who he's scared of. It's all your experiments." One of the two mumbled to the other. Volkner painstakingly turned his head towards the scientist.

"Why do I have to be able to withstand electricity?" He managed to mumble.

"Well you can't very well be a good conductor if you can't!" He then covered his mouth with both hands. "Forget you ever heard that. I didn't say a thing."

"I will not! A conductor! What for?" His heart rate went up. He knew humans made excellent conductors, and it only made sense for him to target someone who trains solely with electric types. But why would he need to be a conductor?

"See! You've raised your blood pressure! That's why you must forget!"

"I will not! Now tell me why. What difference will it make to understand what's going to happen?" The petite man thought about this.

"Well, nothing really. It might actually encourage you to have your life prolonged a little. So I'll tell you tomorrow. Then you might actually come." And with that, before Volkner could protest, he injected him with an a drug that sent him spiraling into a black abyss.

Volkner woke up in his cell. He had full recollection of what had happened, except now, a nasty pain in his side. This was perfect. Now he had a set fate. That's better than nothing at all.

* * *

Lance was looking up at the building. It was absolutely the biggest thing in the whole region. Almia was kind of a useless nation. The rangers that ran it were quite ridiculous, never capturing the pokemon. He sighed heavily and steeled himself for the job ahead. The people of the region needed someone to install a security system. Consequently somehow he was either the only elite four who could do it or wasn't busy.

He checked through his equipment one more time. All there. He stopped to marvel at the magnificence of the state of the art technology. It was better than anything he had ever seen. It had been designed by the champion of the elite four of one of the most elite regions there was. The pokemon of that region were titans and unmatched for there skill on the battle field. Plus that champion was gorgeous. He really had to get the courage to ask her out after this.

The red head's cell phone buzz once and then play the song "Poison" by Alice Cooper.

_Poison running through there veins/ and it's poison_

Lance frowned. That wasn't his ring tone at all. He took out his phone. It was Koga. Well about the previous mentioned region, there were some smart gym leaders there, and his guess was one of them had changed his ring tones. Could have been the champion too…

"What?"

"There yet. Because if you are please get started as soon as possible. Trouble's brewing and we really need surveillance there."

"What kind of trouble?"

"The kind of trouble that comes from criminal organizations. A.k.a. Team Dim Sun."

"Shoot. Okay thanks. I'll get started."

* * *

Volkner was worn out. But he managed not to faint when the two mountains came to collect him. He was anxious and afraid. Anxious for the news, and scared of it too.

"Hello, you managed to make it down here I see!"

" I want to know. Now."

"Fine. I'll tell you. But are you sure you want to know?"

"I'm sure."

"Okay. Here it is."

* * *

I'll tell you now. I really like Lance, and yes he will be tied in with this story. Flint will still be in this too so you people who like him don't despair. Let me know if you like it. Also, I really want to thank KiashiSirius (If I spelled this right). Please, I would really like comments. They are so encouraging.

I hope you enjoyed this. Let me know what you like and don't like.


	5. Chapter 5

This time I would like to thank Serpents Ballet and Kiashi Sirius (probably spelled one of those wrong). Their reveiws are amazing and extremely helpful. Thank you so much!

Also this chapter is fairly short. I do apologize for that, but hey, you got it before Christmas right? It is so hard not having a computer yet. Anyway enjoy :D

* * *

Flint didn't know how long it had been. Three, four days maybe even five. The red head hadn't kept track. All he could do was wait. Wait for a phone call, a sign of some sort. He was a traitor. If it wasn't for him then Volkner would still be here. He could have talked to him about the money he was wasting. He could have helped him cut back, anything. But now it was too late. Volkner was gone. Gone forever probably. No he couldn't think like that. There had to be something he could do. Anything! But nothing came to mind.

Lucius came in, probably hoping to cheer him up. Flint completely ignored him. When Aaron wandered in, hoping to cheer the fire user up by opening himself to ridiculing comments he was written off and told to go away. Bertha brought food, but he wouldn't eat any. Cynthia hadn't tried to come back yet after being the only one to stir an emotional reaction from him. And that reaction had been anger.

Now that Flint thought back he couldn't quite remember what he did. He only knew it involved angry words and various objects being thrown at her. It took the whole elite four to wrestle him down. He had told her it was her fault. But inside, he knew he was the only one to blame. He was the one that drove Volkner out. He was the one that was supposed to have been there for him. The user of electric-type had always done that for him. But now, nothing.

The guilt was gnawing at his insides making his stomach turn. He knew that if he even try to eat it would be futile. It conscience's weight was so much that it would force all nutrients out of him. Until he wasted away. Like Volkner was probably doing in one of the dark, dank pits of team Galactic. That was, if he was still alive. If he was, he was probably in utter misery. And in pain. Probably being tortured for information.

Flint tried not to think of the worst that could happen, but it always surged up anyway. There was no avoiding it. The scenes played through his mind like a horror movie. An awful one that he knew would always haunt him. Haunt him for the rest of his life. He pressed the refresh button on his computer, seeing if Galactic had surfaced anywhere. Incidentally, they hadn't.

It was all too much for him to handle. He couldn't get a grip on reality. Soon he'd have to battle a challenger. There were a lot on the waiting list. This new eight gym leader wasn't very good. There were about ten who had already beaten Aaron and Bertha and were waiting for him. But he didn't care. He could care less about that.

Another refresh, another let down. How many times could he try before he utterly gave up? No he couldn't give up. Not now, not ever. Not until a picture, or information, or even a body surfaced. He would not give up. But, what would he do if a body did surface? What would that do to him?

**Gym Leader's HQ**

"You had no right to take that kind of action!" Byron yelled across the table. Cynthia turned her eyes down. She still hadn't even told them that Volkner was kidnapped either. The gym leaders had demanded a meeting, one that included her.

"It was in every bit of my power to take the necessary actions!" Cynthia didn't like raising her voice but wouldn't take that.

"Ya, and Wallace hates water pokemon!" She didn't know who had yelled that but didn't like it. They weren't remembering their places. They had no right to contest her decision this outright. Then again, maybe they'd stop once they'd heard what had happened to Volkner.

"That's not the full of it either so sit down and be quiet. Volkner has been kidnapped." A roar of outrage erupted throughout the room, people screaming that it was her fault.

"If you hadn't done such a thing then it would have never happened."

"Were you even going to tell us you did that?" Crasher Wake stood up, his chair making a screeching sound on the floor. Everyone shut their mouths and looked at him.

"Now I know what his problem was when we talked in Pastoria. I thought if anything for his leaving it was because he was looking for a challenge. But to force a gym leader out of their home? That is a disrespect I didn't think you were capable of." The disgust flowed freely from him. "Now look what has happened. Whatever blood of him and his pokemon is spilled is now on the Elite Four's hands."

For the first time in a long time, Cynthia felt the pang of regret and...fear

* * *

I dislike Cynthia, I really and truly do. She's just kind of annoying. I can't wait til those new games come out and we get Lance back again. Though, I don't like what they've done to the female player :P Oh well, I'll just play as Gold. Please let me know what you think about it. Oh also, I'm wondering what you think of the gym leader's decisions about hating Cynthia. It's what I'd do if someone kicked one of my buddies out but *shrugs shoulders* Hope you liked it!


	6. Chapter 6

I finally got my new computer! I love it. This should be somewhat of a Christmas/New Year's present with 2ish chapters coming out in short succession.

Anyways, someone said they'd like to hear what each and every gym leader thought and another person said it was unlikely that every gym leader would stand up for Volkner. Well as for the second part, if everyone has the same ideas about something, not to many people are going to go against the crowd. Especially not when Crasher Wake is screaming his protests. I wouldn't go head to head with him unless I had a few different people backing me up. Enjoy please

* * *

**Roark's Room (Gym Leader's HQ)**

Roark had no clue what the rest of the gym leaders were going to do. If you asked him he figured Volkner deserved some short of slap on the wrist. Maybe not getting kicked out of his gym and kidnapped, but something. That cocky jerk was always putting his position and pokemon down. The yellow haired man frequently poked fun at his hair and how much he tried (and failed) to copy his dad. That and the fact that he looked just like some kid named Silver that only those ranked 8th gym leader and up knew about.

Roark had confided his feelings in his father one day, and was told that most of it was nothing personal. Volkner was bored, and needed something to do. That and Roark presented himself as an easy victim to his poking and proddings. His father's friend Riley offered that maybe Volkner was irrate at Flint. Roark didn't care for the reason, he just knew it was out of line. Also, Volkner had laughed and pointed out some stories were Roark was pared with a whole assortment of people (including guys) saying that they knew him better than they could ever guess.

"I'm not a queer…" Roark mumbled to himself moodily as he shined his rocks. He glanced up and gave his lileep's pokeball a smile. He'd finally get his chance to approach the girl he liked.

**Gardenia's Room (Gym Leader's HQ)**

How could they? Those nasty Elite Four members! Her poor little Volky! Granted she hadn't ever asked him out, but in her consideration he was hers. Then that blonde comes along, and ooooh she didn't know what to do! Should she cry or stop around her room mad? In no way had any of them have the right to take away her little light bulb. She still hadn't even had the chance to discuss how people in Sunnyshore could reduce their electrical output, let alone help reignite his passion for battling.

Gardenia remembered at one of the gym leader's parties, he had come. It had been a beach party, and of course he brought his swim suit. He hadn't worn it at first, but in a little bit he conceded to do so with some prodding. And boy did he have a well toned body. Pale, yes, but you could tell he worked out. It made her mouth water just thinking about it.

"Hey Gardenia, do you have any plant fertilizer in here?" Roark asked, poking his head around the corner and smiling nervously.

"Get out of here! Can't you tell I'm upset? And don't ever come in here without asking. A vase was throw and shattered right next to a very confused Roark's head. His Lileep would have to wait for its fertilzer today, Gardenia stormed out of her room with a very unforgiving look in her eye, her fist raised to punch him.

Roark cringed away, waiting for the blow to land, but it never came thanks to Maylene's enraged war cry preceded and followed by a crashing sound.

**Maylene's Room (Gym Leader's HQ)**

Where Maylene came from, it was very dishonorable to disgrace someone, especially a man of honor such as Volkner. Though she didn't know Volkner very well, she knew him to have a great sense of pride and honor. His defeated opponent were still regarded with some amount of respect, even if they were from team Galatic. And when called on he would help another who greatly needed it.

When Maylene had first moved to Sinnoh to become a gym leader, she was unsure of what to do. In her first few battles she was defeated rather easily. When Volkner heard about this and how dejected Maylene had been he proptly came down to help. He assisted her in reorganizing her gym so only the ones worthy of her time could reach her. He had also trained with her rigorously, showing her tecniques she could use to her advantge and ways to train more. He had only been able to leave his gym for a few days though, and had to go back. But in that short time she had learned much, and grown stronger by far.

The girl sighed and picked up her book she had been reading. She barely made it through a sentence when she heard someone creeping in the hall outside her room.

"Hiiiiiiiiiiii-ya!" her war cry echoed down the hall as she broke her door down to keep the intruder away. One ducked out of the way as if expecting the attack, one ran behind the the biggest one, and the biggest one caught her foot and knocked her to the ground.

**Crasher Wake's Room (Still the same HQ if you were wondering…)**

The fist landed against the wall making a nice break through it. Dust swirled throughout the room causing the room's other occupant to sneeze.

"Honestly Wake, get a grip. Destroying your wall isn't going our problems. Plus that dust's way worse than cave dust, it's quite disgusting." Byron said irritably, rubbing his nose as he tried in vain to get the icky stuff out.

"The problem is, I don't even know where to start looking for him! What on earth are we going to do? It'd be a little better if we knew what they planned on doing with him. From those voice patterns we know for sure that it's their admin, Saturn, that's the cause of this. They haven't made any threats, demands, mocking, nothing! That's what really bothers me."

"Believe me Wake, I've thought about. I've gotten Riley to check Iron Island, and he's probably scoured the place twice over by now. There's no place they've could've hidden him there, and all their hideouts are empty. I have no clue where we should look now."

"Well, it's wrong!"

"I know. But punching walls isn't going to help. So, let's…" Byron was cut off by a crashing sound accompanied by Maylene's war cry.

The two men looked at each other and then ran out of the room.

**Fantina's Room (Honestly, why do I even bother, of course it's going to be in same place…)**

"I think this is all some elaborate thing the Elite Four came up with to bother us all." Fantina said airily.

"No way! They wouldn't mess with us like this. Besides they'd have to tie up Volkner to even begin to pull this off!" Candice avidly protested her thoughts with a shocked expression on her face.

"Volkner's always been a joker. He'd probably enjoy hanging out with the Elite Four while all of use looked for him."

"No he wouldn't! Volkner would never do something like that."

"Well you have to remember he was the one that sent Byron the fake team Galactic call as if it was from Roark. He even knocked Roark out to do it."

"Ya, but that was to show him how easy it would be for Galactic to get to any of us. And if you remember about a month later they did try to pull a fast one on us. If it hadn't been for Volkner, both Byron and Roark would be dead, because they did the same thing to Roark!"

"That doesn't count. He wasn't as bored then! Plus he did cause those outages." Fantina was getting irrated now.

'Just because he did that doesn't mean…" She didn't get to finish the sentence. Maylene's war cry rang out through the complex and both ladies rushed out of the room to go see what had happened.

* * *

Don't you just hate cliffhangers? Lolz, anyways, I hope the two people that commented that they wanted some of those things are happy now.

I would like to thank all the wonderful people who have read this story, and even more, those who have taken the time to comment. It means a lot to me. It's also really encouraging to have people point out things that I'm could improve on and things that I'm doing well on. I hope if you ever have a suggestion that would make this story better you will tell me. I promise I'll try to include it in the story or go back and revise it if you point out some places that something would sound better.

Hope you enjoyed this chapter!


	7. Chapter 7

Well happy New Year/Merry Christmas this is two chapters in one day. Actually, I probably would have just waited and written the whole thing at one time, but I decided I wanted to leave you with a cliff hanger. To clear things up, I said Maylene's 'War cry' because of lack for better description. And battle cry just doesn't have the same ring to it.

**

* * *

**

Roark and Gardenia were the first to reach the scene, with Byron and Wake in a close second on the other side of the hall. Fantina and Candice were a little later behind Wake and Byron.

An man bent down and picked up Maylene by the collar from where she had been slammed on her back. This unknown stranger had spiky blackish-blue hair, wore a royal blue ninja outfit with a red scarf around his neck. He pressed a knife blade against Maylene's throat. Maylene's feet dangled in the air, and she grasped at her shirt collar as it attempted to strangle her.

The other one, standing slightly behind the man with the knife was clad only in ripped karate pants held up by a tattered black belt. Studded cuffs circled his wrists. Finally, the least notable one was the short man cowering behind the larger one. From what could be seen he was wearing a mask, with his purple hair covering one eye. His dress was that of a juggler with purples and reds and blacks.

"Nobody move, or I'll kill her." It was a cold voice.

"What the heck do you want with her?" Crasher Wake shouted, his chunky hand almost crushing the small pokeball in his hand.

"I want a simple way out, that's all."

'This ninja man's scary' Thought Candice.

"Koga! Jeez, I really doubt these people are much of a threat. Xatu just took us to the wrong place. I'm sure I probably just got the corridnates mixed around, that's all. There's obviously not any trouble around here, so let's just put the girl down and go. Then we'll give Lance a call and see where he's at. Sound good?" The man named Koga turned only enough so that he could give the man petitioning him to leave a good glare.

"Will, shut up. You have no experience in field work. Let Bruno and me handle this." The man named Will cringed under the glare, shifting his feet. Obliviously he was quite scared of this man.

It was right about then that Cynthia ran in, towing Lucian behind her. They skidded to a halt behind Candice and Fantina. From there they cautiously moved in front of Wake and Byron.

"See, you know Cynthia! Can you please put that knife down now? If Lance finds out then…" For speaking out of line he received a vicious elbow to the nose. A cracking sound could be heard and the man Will sank to his knees and tried in vain to stop the blood pouring from his nose.

"Lance won't find out, because he won't be told." The man now, known as Bruno gingerly picked the poor masked man of the ground, frowning at the ninja.

"Koga, is that you?" Cynthia asked peering at his face, searching for something that would say otherwise. She found nothing.

"Yes my name is Koga. Now, why would the Johto Elite Four be contacted with a distress signal and be given these coordinates?"

"I-I have no idea. If you were contacted it surely wasn't my fault. But will you please put my gym leader down?"

"No. Not until I find out why I was attacked." He glared harshly at Maylene, though still not completely taking his eyes of Cynthia. There was silence for a while as Cynthia moved her mouth like a fish out of water. It was finally broken by Will's moan of pain when he tried to pop it back into place. Once again he sank to the floor.

"Shut up." Koga ordered, not even sparring him a glance as he kicked him. Lucian glared at him.

"And what, pray tell, gives you the authority to kick another member of your league?" Lucian voice was laced with venom. This man had no right. He was acting as bad a Team Rocket…

"Old habits die hard I guess." His voice was even but his mouth held a nasty smirk.

"Yo, finally! I just realized I didn't give the coordinates for the Elite Four HQ, but I sent the coordinates for Gym Leader HQ. Boy, I bet you guys were surprised!" Flint barreled through the halls skidding to a stop as he crashed through Gardenia and Roark. Koga turned to give Flint part of his attention.

"And why would you call us?"

"Because Team Galactic kidnapped our eighth gym leader, Volkner, right after we told him he'd have to leave."

"And that concerns us how?"

"'Cause we need your help."

"And why is this?" Koga's patience was wearing thin, and it showed on his face.

"Well, I guess because we have no idea to go about finding him."

"Would you give me a decent answer already?" Koga was practically yelling now. This kid sure did know how to ignite his temper.

"They have no experience with this sort of thing. Their gym leaders are total noobs when it comes to dealing with criminals. They didn't even know they were in their region until it was pointed out to them." It was a mumbled, nasally answer which came from the curled up form on the ground, but it obviously satiated Koga's need for a 'decent answer'.

"Well, I guess we don't keep you around for nothing Will." A grunt was the only reply as Will half picked himself up just in time to have Maylene dropped on his back.

"Ow."

**Almia Region - Tower**

Honestly, this building was tall. Lance was on the second floors ledge and already he was regretting taking on this job. He was glad he had (grudgingly) barrowed the offered Blaziken. It was a huge pokemon capable of jumping over the tower. That was the kind of power that the champion of that new region possessed. Apparently, the same Blaziken had obliterated Steven Stone a few years back. No surprise there though.

Lance glanced down and the transparent 'elastitramp'. Apparently if he fell from the top of the tower, it would break his fall with him taking no damage, save a couple of bruises. Needless to say, he was quite skeptical.

"Blaze…" Lance didn't need to read the pokemon's mind (though he did right afterwards) to figure out that it too shared his thoughts. This was why he was sitting on the ledge of the second floor, staring down at this odd device. And (he figured he was crazy for trying this) about to jump down, off the relative safeness of the ledge and into probably a world of pain. Lance was just hoping that Blaziken might be able to catch him before he broke any bones.

**Almia Region – Top of Tower**

"Lavana, stop!" There was urgency in the blue haired man's voice. The bubblegum-colored haired girl paused, putting her hand on her hip and glaring.

"What is it Ice? Jeez, she's just a ranger. She won't be missed if she's dropped." The ranger in question had her hands tied behind her back and piece of cloth around her mouth, gagging her. The girl's eyes widened in fear as she realized this crazy lady was going to drop her.

"Don't Lavana! We didn't come here to kill anyone!"

"You've always been way to soft hearted for your own good." Lavana sneered giving the ranger a hard push towards the ledge. She stumbled and for a gut wrenching almost went over the foot-high concrete barrier. Someone caught her hands and pulled them back she turned, expecting to see one of the rangers, like Sven or Kellyn, had at the last minute shown up. But it was Ice, the leader of the Sinis Trio that pulled her back onto solid ground. Lavana was sprawled on the ground and trying to avoid getting as dirty as possible.

"Are you alright?" Ice asked quietly as he brushed her off. She nodded vigorously as he untied her gag. "There, I hope that's more comfortable." Before she could thank him, the metal door that had previously been blocking the only way off the roof was thrown off of its hinges. Ice took a nervous step back.

"Luana!" The afro-ed Crawford yelled. Her ranger leader, Barlow, sent a kick to his chest and he stumbled backwards, tripped over the small barrier and fell into space. There was no one there to catch him. Luana tried to grab his hand but missed by a mere inch as he plummeted down the side, eyes wide in terror.

"Ice!"

**Almia Region – Tower**

Lance was still there, trying to build up the nerve to jump down. He'd go to do and then shy back, like a little kid on the diving board for the first time. He sighed, steeling himself for another try when there was a commotion to be heard on the top of the tower. A few yells, metal clanging, and a very yelled "Ice" was yelled as a blue object fell down at a very fast speed only to crash into the elastitramp with a groan, showing whatever it was, was still alive.

"Hmm. Well, I guess it works." He figured the crumpled for was just unconscious because it wasn't moving.

"Hey, I don't have to try it now!"

"Blaze…"

* * *

Alright, now for some explainations. So, in the Pokemon comic, Koga is a bad guy with Team Rocket. Thus the whole 'Old Habits die hard.' And Will is kind of the punching bag here because well...He just kind of is. I mean really, he's not all that intimidating. Granted he looks like some Batman and Robin villian/ally with the whole mask, but then the outfit just makes me laugh. Don't get me wrong, I like Will I really do, but Koga seems kind of like the guy who wouldn't like him. And for even being there, in his presence, he deserves punishment. Koga just seems to give off those kind of vibes. Which is funny, because in the Crystal game he was always the easiest guy to beat since he got stomped by my Espeon...

Next, Lance. I know he's all ruff and tuff and scary (or nerdy and way to perfect and annoying in the anime) but he just seems like a funny person. I really like Lance. That and he's so dang cool as a villian in comic. He pretty much schools everyone and lives through a blast that should have totally annihalated him. (If I were him I wouldn't jump on that thing either since I'm even too afraid to dive off the diving board hehe)

Ice. Were do we start with him. He and Garret made the Almia game barrable. That and the fact that cocky Keith got kidnapped (it's just too bad you didn't get to see what would happen if you hadn't handed over that crystal, cause I defiently wouldn't have). I was cool, calling everyone noobs and actually having brains. Plus he didn't really rant and rave when defeated and he didn't hang around to be arrested. (p.s. Was I the only one that pictured Lavana as an old lady?)

Oh, and I almost forgot, does Flint seem like the airhead that would give out the wrong coordinates? And if you're wondering, he's kinda happy now because he thinks he's found a way to help Volkner...

Anyways, I hoped you enjoyed it! I'd love to hear from you!

P.S. Next chapter should be almost all Volkner. We will get back to that poor guy.


	8. Chapter 8

New chapter. Whoo hoo. I think a lot of people were wonder about Volkner, so here he is. And you finally get to find out what's happening with him!

None of you are probably excited as I, but I'm pretty happy that I got it out. :D Enjoy!

**

* * *

**

**Unknown Base, 1 day prior to Ice falling of the Almia Tower…**

Volkner looked up at the dazzling blue sky, wishing with all his might to be free again. Free to soar on a bird pokemon, or run into freezing ocean water, or even to be accidentally shocked by one or more of his electric pokemon. And with a sigh, Volkner turned back to his rather dark and dreary cell.

It seemed like week ago, but really it'd only been a day or two. Maybe three. The days just seemed to bleed together, one after the other. And they would continue bleeding together, until his life came to a final halt. Which it was going to very soon. The blonde just wished that it would be a painless one. But Lady Luck was just not on his side. She was determined to grind his face into dirt, then through him of a sea cliff into the waiting mouths of a few dozen Sharpedo who would slowly tear him apart. If only his end would be that painless.

"_You're going to be our Conductor." The white haired scientist stated quite matter of factly._

"_You want me to drive a train for you?" Volkner asked with a dumbfounded look on his face. If they'd have just asked him, he probably would have done it for them._

"_No. Think electricity. Think what conductors do."_

"_Absorb electricity…" The blond was slow to reply, thinking things through._

"_Exactly. You're going to absorb electricity from some of the biggest lightning bolt every generated." There was a cruel, evil smile on the scientist face now._

"_Why not get one of your underlings to do that for you? Why me?" Volkner knew he should be afraid of what was coming next. Felt it in every part of his body. But still, he didn't know why. Maybe a little part of himself knew what the petite, crazy man next to him had meant. The rest of him just didn't want to admit it._

"_Well, that's quite simple. They simple don't have the resistance necessary for the job. After all, working with electric pokemon has given you amazing resistance to their attribute. You'll be able to live through multiple shocks. That, and this isn't going to be incredibly painful. After this, there probably won't have been another person on the face of this earth who has felt so much excruciating pain." Volkner knew why now, that he should be afraid. It wasn't so much the other man's words, but his expression. Sadistic. He was going to enjoy this so very much. There was a glint in his eyes that rustled up a primeval fear in him. Then, there was black as once again he fell unconscious._

Now that Volkner thought about it, he had blacked out a lot recently. He was numb. But now he had remembered that look. That look which stirred something deep inside him. The hidden desire to live, to fight. It filled him and he threw himself at the bars, beating against them until he had not more strength in which to beat against them with. The blonde then sank to his knees sobbing. He was going to die. More than anything else, he just wanted to see the people who knew him best. He wanted to see his best friend Flint. Now, he still felt hurt and betrayal, but there was no longer anger there. Just a longing. He wished he could tell Flint he didn't hate him, and this wasn't all his fault. Him voting against the league members wouldn't have made any difference anyway.

That night Volkner cried himself to sleep.

**Elite Four HQ- Midday**

"Aaron was a vain person. There was no denying it. Especially as he sat in front of the mirror in his bedroom. The bedroom that Cynthia had forced him to share with the Johto Elite Four member named Will. He had attempted to get him roomed with Flint (who might give him serious migranes), or even Lucian (who, both of them being psychic only have made sense). But no, the strange, quite man was roomed with him. Just because they were the first members in there pokemon leagues did _not_ mean that he should be stuck with him.

"Aaron was a vain person. There was no denying it. Especially as he sat in front of the mirror…"

"You already said that. Please, can you just brush your hair out in silence." The purple haired man pleaded. Just because he was a psychic, didn't mean he could read thoughts. Though the naïve little bug type user assumed it did, so he had taken up speaking his thoughts out loud to annoy Will. At least, that's what Will assumed anyway.

"'Well stop reading my thought if you don't want to hear them.' Aaron was now irritated. He lost his place on his head. Now he'd have to start all over again."

Will face-palmed. If he was Koga he would have killed this little green haired, pink and purple loving, girl magazine reading, self narrating, little jerk already. But it was probably a good thing he wasn't Koga. Just thinking of Koga made his nose hurt. Bruno had had to snap it back into place for him. Now, his nose was just really, really bruised. Will glanced over at the bug-type user again. And watched something quite ordinary happen. But, he realized that was what he needed to shut the little (oh he wasn't even going to go into it right now) up.

Will got up off the little bed he had been laying and walked over to Aaron with a perfectly straight face. Aaron shot him a suspicious look, but promptly went back to his hair care. Will raised an eyebrow as if he had just noticed something, and let out a hmm as he plucked something off of Aaron's shirt.

"Aaron tried to ignore what the funny looking masked man was doing, but finally had to glance at what he was holding." Will held it in front of his face.

"I guess it's true that if you brush your hair too much, it starts to all fall out." Will made an acknowledging expression and set the hair back on Aaron's shirt.

"Aaron narrowed his eyes at the strange hair. Picking it up, he say that Indeed! It was one of his hairs."

**Somewhere outside the cave to Victory Road…**

A fisherman sat on the bank with a fishing pole, wondering if he was ever going to catch his dinner, when a high-pitched scream echoed through air. It was a scream of pure horror.

'Hmmm, I thought they did away with all that torture stuff…'

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I just had to include that last little part :D Anyways let me know what you think. Oh, and KiashiSurius (probably spelled that wrong..DX) I sent you mail explaining what was going on, I don't know if you got it or not though...

Anyways, please review and tell me what you like and didn't like, or thought I could improve on. I really enjoy those types of reviews. Especially when you tell me why you liked a certain part, so hopefully I can do that certain part well again


	9. Chapter 9

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I had a comment that the last chapter was dissapointingly short. I have to agree. I had actually started on this a few hours before, but since someone was openly displeased about the short chapter I decided to continue for you guys. Enjoy!

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**Elite Four HQ**

"Will, what on earth did you do?" Koga asked, an eyebrow raised. The little green haired bug trainer was in the corner rocking back and forth, staring at his hairbrush like it was going to leap up and attack him. Koga eyed Will thoughtfully. He just didn't see the younger man as the time to seriously mess a person up like this.

"I simply told him that too much brushing could cause hair to fall out."

"Hair will fall out anyway."

"Shhh." Will held a finger to his lips with a small smile.

"I have to get back to looking for this Volkner person."

"The two men were talking, eyeing the younger green haired man. They were wondering what was wrong. They were standing so near to that brush, it was quite scary. Maybe they didn't care about their hair." Aaron once again was talking out loud.

"Your explanation for that?" Koga turned back to Will whom shrugged.

"It's been going on this whole entire time. I just finally got tired of it."

"Well, you're needed elsewhere, so get yourself sorted out. I haven't got time for this nonsense." Will shivered under the glare that the poison trainer gave him. He absolutely hated it when Lance wasn't around to keep him in check. Granted, Will himself had been involved in a criminal organization, but that wasn't by choice. And the organization he was involved with wasn't nearly as violent or brutal as Team Rocket, which Koga had been a vary prominent figure in.

Lance had always been the only person that could rein Koga in and keep him in check. There were numerous times Will would have died from his abuse if Lance wasn't there. He just couldn't help the fact that he wasn't a violent person. The young man shuddered again as he felt his bruised ribs, the last mark that Koga had left him with. Sighing Will made his way out of the room. He would have to deal with the strange green haired guy later. He couldn't keep Koga waiting.

**Unknown Base…**

Volkner was groggy when he woke up. The rocking up down motion wasn't helping. Wait, up down motion? He slowly opened his eyes, and saw that he wasn't in the cell anymore. For a second he was filled with hope, only to realize he was surrounded by a mix of Team Galactic and Team Dim Sun. The rocking motion was created by the air craft he was in going over turbulence.

"Ooh I see your finally awake! This'll be the last time you ever get to ride in an aircraft. Oh, I probably should be telling you not to worry that you could survive, but that would be lying. Tehe. A pity you have to die so young."

"Why me?" Volkner mumbled.

"I do believe we've already been over this but…" Volkner cut him off.

"No, why not use something else. Like a rod, or a, or a pokemon if you really needed to. Isn't that what you people are all about? Enslaving pokemon?"

"Oh, I've neglected to skip this point. Well you see, the electricity will take on certain properties once passed through a person that's been administered the correct, let's say drugs. And with those properties, we'll be able to complete our objective."

"Which is…?"

"Hmm, oh, we're going use it as an almost unlimited energy use…" Wow, Volkner thought, maybe my death will actually do some good. "to enslave the minds of all the pokemon in a world." Not the kind of thing the blonde was thinking.

"You were smart letting all your pokemon out through the window. We probably could have used them to boost the electrical power of our lightning generator. But oh well." Had he done that? The confused blonde didn't know. Maybe he had. A vague memory. But at least they were free, which was more than he could say for himself.

"You'd better look out the window. I'd recommend emblazoning the clear blue skies in your mind. After all we're almost to Almia now."

"Where's Almia?"

"Somewhere near Fiore. Judging by your blank look I presume you don't know where that is either. It's filled with Rangers who don't believe in capturing pokemon, but using a funny little device to 'befriend' them. As if."

Volkner frowned, for the name seemed familiar. Maybe some ranger named…oh he couldn't remember now. But they had been asking about a pokemon that they thought might have come through his city. Volkner vaguely remember giving them a blank look.

The little air craft went through a bout of turbulence. After the electric-type user was sure that it was over, he sat up slowly. The little psychotic scientist was right. The sky were a beautiful view. Volkner wasn't exactly a very descriptive person, but now he felt inspired. The sky was the color of cerulean blue, gorgeous, and glistening. Puffy white clouds were sailing over the sky like small fishing boats. Wingulls soared through the air here and there, looking fish. It reminded him of home. Home that he would never see again.

Never again would Volkner walk across the abnormally hot solar panels. Never would he sit on a beach and watch the waves break against the rocks. Never again would he eat at the quite little café. Never would he have the chance to ask that pretty girl that always smiled at him out to dinner. Never would he witness the stunning firworks that twinkled and exploded against the starry night sky every year. Never would he battle again.

Now that the blonde thought about, battling didn't matter so much now. He supposed if he knew the outcome now, and he had the chance to go back and do it all again, he would have been the architect that he always dreamed of being. Volkner had always been good at school. Now, he supposed his parents were a little disappointed at the fact that he never continued his schooling. But, deep down, he knew they were proud of all he had achieved.

The small aircraft went through a very rough bout of turbulence, and he was knocked to the floor. Emotions welled up inside of him, threatening to gush out. He didn't want to think about the now, that was too horrible. He didn't want to think of what would have happened, but what had happened. Volkner longed a trip down memory lane. But when the plane shift elevation, the nose slopping downward, he knew that he had lost his chance.

**Elite Four HQ**

Koga was reading over numerous reports, hoping to scrounge up some evidence of where the missing ex-gym leader might be. He sighed and rubbed his temples, wishing he would have been alerted to this situation sooner. He was so into his work, he almost didn't notice Will come in. Almost. The kid was practically a punching bag. No scratch that. A punching bag could defend itself better. At least the punching bag didn't shrink into a fetal position with every little bump.

Koga observed the fact that the psychic-trainer, Lucian, had notice Will's entrance too, though the champion had not. That was one nice thing about Will, maybe the only thing. He actually had psychic powers. Granted, Sabrina's were far more reliable, but Will had random bouts of pure amazingness. Not that you'd ever find Koga admitting it to him.

"Sit." Koga grunted gruffly. Lucian narrowed his eyes. Obviously, he hadn't cared for Koga breaking Will's nose too much. Tough luck. This Elite Four was useless. A bunch of sissies to be exact. A rocket grunt could have easily gone through these. The only decent pokémon that their champion had was a Garchomp, and he knew that the weakest pokémon Lance possessed would just chew that thing up no problem.

A chair screeched from its former position, and Koga heard Will sit down as if he was in pain. Lower himself in slowly. Koga rolled his eyes, and, sticking a leg out, swept the younger man's feet out from underneath him. There was a the sound that someone makes when they sit down a little too hard, and gasp of pain. The purple haired psychic clutched his side and rested his head against the table. In about the same amount of time, there was the sound of a chair falling back and hitting the ground as if someone had just stood up to fast. Koga glanced up seeming the man Lucian standing up and glaring at him.

"There was absolutely no reason for that!" Koga shrugged. He'd admit (not out loud) that he had kicked Will a little too hard, but then again he should have checked the coordinates before he transported them.

"What gives you the right?"

"I do believe I've answered that question once already for you. I'm not the type of person to repeat myself." Koga narrowed his eyes. Just because this fool was a psychic-type user, did not mean that he could easily best Koga in a pokemon battle. This fool apparently didn't realize Koga's sheer power. That and the fact that this bookworm had absolutely no fighting skills.

"Koga, we need to find this missing gym leader before it's too late. It's already been to long as is." Bruno was right. He might not talk very much, but when he did, it was always well thought out. This and his fighting ability demanded Koga's respect.

"Bruno's right. So what do we have so far on Galatic?" This was Will, who had recovered from his pain. The red head looked up hopefully at this.

"Not much. Just that they recently became active again. Same with Dim Sun. But if you remember correctly, Lance jokingly commented on this being 'The International Villain's Convention.'" Will frowned at this, his mind working in overdrive. That was one of the only reasons Koga hadn't had Will assassinated yet. Though he might be no use in the field, he was superb at his job of overseer. That simply meant he was the one that analyzed every mission the league members went on. Which also put him in a lot of danger. Koga had no idea how he always managed to get out of the scrapes though. Maybe he was better than he was letting on.

"What are you thinking?"

"You said his type was electric?" Koga nodded his consent and Will continued, "Surge and Watson also reported sighting of strange people around his gym. Surge especially. Watson's used to it being near old Maville, so he might not have noticed it as much. My guess is that they weren't bothering Volkner too much because of his rank and they knew how powerful he was. How did he hold out against poison and normal types?"

"Man he just breezed through those. Like one time…" Flint was stopped by Koga's hand as he stared intently at Will not wanting the younger man's train of thought to be derailed. There was a memory somewhere that said that he too had been given this information.

"So you think they were targeting the electric types?"

"Yah. Say, what's the weather like in Almia? In particular near that tower."

"Koga pulled out a device and expertly scanned through the information on the screen, stopping only to give the amazing bug-type trainer a glare that he hope would shut him up. That glare would stay with him for years and he would later wake up…"

"SILENCE!" Koga was not in the mood for Aaron's thoughts. The green haired kid immediately shut up. Now he knew why Will had messed with him that much. He probably would have just slit his throat, and blamed it on Team Galataic.

"It's stormy." Koga said, now in his normal tone.

"Yes, that would make sense."

"What would?" This time it was Bruno. At first he thought that Koga knew too, but his expression was just as confused.

"They're going to use him in that machine Karen witnessed that factory making. The one that looked like it would hold a person, but at the same time act like a giant lightning rod. And it would only make sense that if it was Dim Sun, it would be in Almia. And if it's in Almia, then it would need to be at the highest point. Which, consequently would be Almia tower."

"Why not use a lightning rod?"

"Hmm, I don't know. But that's what it is. I'm a hundred percent positive." Will was determined that it he was correct.

"Now is this your gut or your psychic powers." Will felt a shudder run through him, shaking hard.

"Will. Will? WILL!" And that was it before the darkness consumed him.

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Oh my gosh! What's happening to Will! lolz, cliff hanger. I want to get back to Lance. But I can't until Volkner gets to Almia. Btw, I want to rant about how stupid Almia is again. Just real quick. Promise. Anyways, how come they have like one ranger base. The ranger base of all ranger base doesn't count, because I don't think two old people would make very good rangers. It's like after a ninja get so old, they start teaching and can no longer fight like they used to. You'd hear their joint before you saw them. Sigh.

I was feeling bad for poor Volkner. I mean really that sucks. Granted, I was the one that put him in that situation, but I think a lot of people would be pretty mad at me if I suddenly zapped him off the airplane and back in Sinnoh. Then again, if I zapped into the bogs, or off a cliff, then that might be a little interesting, but I digress.

Hope you enjoyed, please review and tell me what you think!


	10. Chapter 10

I wanted to get this up before I left for break. Mostly cuz I didn't want anyone to be really mad at me. Well actually it was because I enjoy the fact that so many people like this story!

Anyways, before you start, I would like to thank everyone of my reviewers, who I plan to mention by name later, but I'm kind of tired so thus I'm lazy :P

Ooh, I was looking at story traffic, and it said this story got like 49 visitors this month. I was like Le gasp! NO WAY. But ya. I would like to thank everyone of you amazing people out there who like this story.

Yez I'm feeling rather senitmental. ^^;

On another note, the 'i' key on my computer broke off. I don't know how, by please excuse me if my typing is bad. I blame the 'i' key....

Read onwards!

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The first thing Will felt when he started to wake up was shaking. Someone was shaking him, and not all that gently either. He shuddered, trying desperately to go back to that comforting black that had enveloped him like a warm blanket. He didn't want to return to life with its habit of making everything more difficult than it absolutely had to be. But, someone was well prepared, and when he inhaled through his nose, a sharp scent cut into him, filling his mind, dispersing that last little hold on the mind numbing black.

Will opened his eyes, blearily looking up. The person who had been shaking him had a very worried expression on his face. But the strange thing was that this person was Koga. The same Koga who despised his vary existence. He would have to remember that. The smell came from the smelling salts that were sitting right under his nose, held there by an enormous hand. Will realized, moments later, that the hand belonged to Bruno. Why on earth did he carry a bag of smelling salts around in his pocket?

"Koga! What did you do to him?" It was kind of a shrill voice. Will, groggy as he was, knew he should know that voice.

"I had nothing to do with this, _Lucian_." The name was spat out. Maybe he didn't recognize it because it had ripped through somewhere around two octaves. Then again, that might be a slight exaggeration. "If I did, I would have waited for him to finish, which he obviously hadn't. Or must I explain that to you too?" The contempt was quite obvious in Koga's voice.

"Will, what happened? Do you know?" Bruno was always the one to get straight to the point.

Will knew what had happened. It had been a vision. He rarely ever had one. He just wasn't that type of psychic. And they hurt enormously while he was having them too. The only other person until now who had seen him have a vision was Lance. Will didn't know what happened when he had a vision, but knew he thought maybe he didn't want too. They made every cell, every molecule, ever atom in his body hurt like they had been ripped, shredded, torn apart, and then hastily put back together. And in that haste, a few of them had gotten scrambled up.

"You're psychic right?" This was Flint. Will nodded. "So, was it a vision then?" Flint's voice was neither hopeful, nor anxious. It was actually quite monotone. Cynthia spared him a worried glance before turning back to Will. Everyone was waiting on his answer.

His vision had to do with the dealings of their missing gym leader, and it wasn't very encouraging.

**Almia tower**

Lance was at the middle of the tower. He knew from here he couldn't be seen from either the top or bottom. And if, by chance, he was seen he would be put off as a pokemon. An odd one albeit, but a pokemon nonetheless. He'd checked with a hologram just to make sure.

"Blaze…" The Blaziken was balanced precariously on the edge of the building ledge, and Lance stopped to wonder for a minute how it could be so nonchalant about hanging so high in the air. Personally Lance was quite nervous about this whole ordeal. Then again, Lance figured if you could jump twice this height without much of a thought, you probably had not fear about the return trip down…

Suddenly there were shouts from below. Peering over the edge, Lance tried to make himself unnoticeable.

"Get to moving!" There was a rough shove from a black clad figure. Someone in a blue coat with bright yellow hair tripped and fell. It looked like he made a move to get up but then decided not to. He was promptly haled to his feet, and given another push. Lance quirked an eyebrow. Very odd. Hopefully he wouldn't have any problems.

**Elite Four HQ**

Flint groaned and buried his head in his hands. It was obvious that Will had bypassed most of the details. The very uncomfortable ones. Most of what Flint had heard involved lightning bolts, pain, and screaming. All on Volkner's part. The petite purple-haired man had said from what he'd seen it didn't look like Volkner was going to make it out alive. And it was all because of Flint. His fingers moved to his tangled red hair, fingers ripping through it painfully. He barely registered Will dismissing himself from the planning that was taking place. The elites were wondering how they were going to get all the way to Almia in the given amount of time. Flint thought for a minute. Then he was struck by a sudden thought. Maybe! Yes, that just might work. Of course, he couldn't tell the others, because they would stop him immediately. But, if he somehow managed to corner the person needed for his plan to work, then maybe, just maybe! He got up, trying to act like he was going to stare at the wall in his room to wonder why the world was so cruel. He just hoped nobody noticed that he had left by the same door as Will.

**Almia Tower- Bottom**

This was the third time Volkner had been pushed to the ground. He made a move to get up, then decided he didn't feel like it and fell back down to the cool pavement. If they wanted to kill him for not moving fast enough it would be better than what could happen. But not so, he was soon dragged to his feet and given another cruel shove. The blond stumbled into the lobby.

Not surprisingly, there was no one there. But the blond man was pretty sure they weren't going to let civilians interfere. They'd already dealt with the rangers, or so they said anyway. Volkner moved into an elevator. He didn't even remember walking those few steps to get there. Mentally, he shrugged. He was actually quite glad his mind had started going numb like it had before in Sunnyshore before he had had some decent challengers. It helped. He barely noticed the cheerful ding of the elevator, so at odds with the situation.

The ex-gym leader was led down a narrow hall and pushed into a room with a large device at its center. The device was on a raised platform that looked like it could be raised up and through the ceiling. The device itself was circular in design with cuffs placed around it's edges. Cuffs that were at just the right spots to hold his arms slightly above his shoulders, and his legs slightly wider than his hips. His eyes widen, and suddenly his calm was broken. He, Volkner, was going to die. They really were going to kill him. And somewhere deep inside him, an almost animalistic instinct broke loose. He brought his elbow back and popped one of his guard in the nose, causing blood to spurt from it. They obviously weren't expecting resistance.

Then next guard took a fist to his stomach when Volkner whirled around toward the door. As the bigger man doubled over in pain Volkner grabbed his wrist and pulled, sticking his foot out so that the other tripped. Two of the guards recovered from their stupor, and moved toward him. He lowered his shoulder and plowed into them like a football player. He ducked a fist, and decided since he was already crouched down, he was going to put all of his weight into an uppercut. There was a few sharp cracks, from Volkner's hand, or the guards jaw he couldn't tell, but didn't stop to ask.

Somebody grabbed him from behind and he kicked blindly. There was a grunt, but the other's grip remained firm. A black clad figured rushed in from the hallway and grabbed his feet, valiantly holding on as Volkner kicked. Together, the two managed to wrestle the blond over to the large device. Though he thrashed madly, Volkner had lost the element of surprise and was soon struggling in vain against the circular device's handcuffs.

"Honestly did you think you could get away?" The little scientist had come back to mock him. Volkner wasn't in the mood and spit in his eye in reply. If this had been any other day in Sunnyshore, he and Flint would have made some comment about llamas, Volkner thought whistfully. He might have thought this, but continued glaring.

"Well, have your fun and giggles. But in the end, it is I who shall have the last laugh!" The small scientist pressed a button on his device panel, and there was a groan of machinery as the contraption moved up and the ceiling opened to rain.

**Almia Tower- Rooftop**

"You'll never catch me!" Lavana screamed as she ran from the rangers. It was a large rooftop with lots of space for her to maneuver. Not to mention the fact that it had to be raining on top of everything else. 'This is going to take a while." Crawford thought darkly as he watched the other rangers run after Lavana. He had to stay with Luana who was currently sheltering under a small storage shed. Not that he didn't want to stay with Luana, but it was just kind of depressing seeing her this messed up.

Crawford looked down at the other ranger. She was sitting on the cold, slightly wet ground with her arms wrapped around her legs. There was a far off look to her eyes that made Crawford want to break out in tears. The fact that such a strong young woman could be shatter like this…He just didn't understand why.

"Luana…I." He almost choked up right there, but swallowed hard and continued. "Luana, I was, I was wondering why you were so sad."

"He's dead."

"Who?" Crawford was confused. He didn't _think_ any of the rangers had died.

"Ice."

"But he's a crimi…" Crawford didn't get to finish. Luana glared at him as he had never seen her glare before.

"It doesn't matter." It was a harsh tone. Then softly, "He saved my life…" Crawford didn't know if he heard her correctly.

"Saved your life?" A nod. "From who?"

"Lavana. She tried to push me over the edge. I was about to fall. Then Ice grabbed me before I did."

"Oh…"

"I couldn't even return the favor. Or really thank him. You and Barlow showed up, and…and…and" She started sobbing.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know." Crawford bent over and softly rubbed her back.

"It's not your fault. It's mine. I should have reached farther something, anything! It's all my fault that's he's dead." Luana sobbed harder.

"Umm, er, there was nothing you really could have done. If anything you should blame Lavana."

"NO! It's my fault all my fault!" Now she was screaming. Crawford didn't understand women. How could they go from depressed to crying their hearts out, then all the way to screaming at the top of their lungs?

Crawford almost had to reply, but Lavana had started cackling.

"Now, you'll see what is really happening! You thought we just wanted to kidnap your precious little ranger, didn't you? But you just had to be out of the way! Now, you'll see the majesty of the combined forces of Team Dim Sun and Team Galatic." Mad laughter followed.

"What's her problem?" This was Sven, who had snuck up next to Crawford's shoulder. He turned quickly, afro dancing as he did.

"Don't do that!" Crawford yelled. Sven took no notice.

"What do you think she meant? Nothing's happening." There was a low rumble that came up from the floor of the roof. It was the sound of heavy, complex machinery moving. Part of the floor in front of the rangers started to move apart, slowly. Then, the top of some sort of circular metal could be seen.

"Stop that!" Someone yelled from behind. The rangers turned around to see a man running up. He had a red afro and yellow shirt. Crawford briefly wondered what the black collar and wrist cuffs where for but then figured it was because they match the bright yellow shirt he was wearing. His black pants looked like they were about to drop around his ankles, their suspenders down at the sides. _'Flip flops probably aren't the world's best thing to be wearing…" _Crawford thought briefly.

"Who are you?" Sven asked coolly. Though Crawford would never admit it, he was jealous.

"The name's Flint of the Sinnoh Elite Four, and I request that you stop that machine!"

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Epic huh? I know, you all probably scrolled up to see where you missed how Flint got there. But I haven't typed that yet. I like leaving it with a cliff hanger, and the chapter was almost _much_ shorter so I could leave you with where Volkner was being raised up, but I didn't. I hope you're happy :D

I will tell you this. I feel bad for Will. He's always so...picked on ish. In this story he's like one of those sacrafice pokemon that you send out just so you can reheal your good one. You know that pokemon's gonna take a beating, but in the end the most you can say is thanks. Lolz. What a wonderful comparison.

Now, to keep with tradition: PLZ REVIEW!!!!!!! I would love to hear what you like on this story so I can do it again. And if you didn't like something, I shall try to avoid doing it again!!!!


	11. Chapter 11

This is almost over :O Oh noes!

Okay, so you'll be reading this, and thinking what on earth is wrong with this person? Does she have a mental illness? Well, you know what, blame it on Naruto and Pocahontas. Seriously no joke. I was listening to that Savages song from Pocahontas, and it was to Naruto clips. Well, the result when ninjas meet indians and demented fat governors is kinda this. Yup. Just remember that.

Also I was listening to Playing with the Big Boys Now from the Prince of Egypt. To Naruto clips...ya.

Tehehe...enjoy =D

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Earlier at the Elite Four HQ

'Dang it. Why must there be so many rooms and hallways?' Will was lost, and he wasn't happy about it. Barely conscious and walking in circles is not good for a person's health and well being. Will sighed and leaned against a wall. 'They say when you're lost, hug a tree, but they never said what you do when you're lost in a building.'

A pair of footsteps could be heard coming up behind him with a rhythm of barely contained anxiety and anxiousness. Will closed his eyes. Yes, he felt those same emotions emanating from the person approaching him. He hadn't a clue who it was until he heard the thwacking of flips flops as they connected with both the floor and the owners foot. 'Must be Flint.'

"You look a little lost." Flint said sounding open and happy, even giving him a little smile. 'Maybe he's trying to hide how anxious he is…' Will mentally shrugged. Who knows how people act in hard times. Everyone's very different. A side long glance told him something was up.

"Hmm, yes. Yes I am. You wouldn't be able to point me towards my room would you?"

"Well of course! Actually, I'm heading in that direction anyways. I'll just walk you there in case you faint." Will nodded in thanks sighing deeply. His whole body ached right down to the very core. He felt hallow, like the only thing keeping himself from collapsing in on itself was the pain that was resonating through every atom, through every cell, through every tissue, then spreading the through the very organs those tissue made up, eventually making its way to the overall system and the consuming his body. Down to his very soul. He honestly wondered how psychics had visions on a regular basis. Maybe that's why Sabrina was so psychotic. It was her way of dealing with the pain. To channel it all elsewhere. All this thinking caused his headache to spike, so he decided to focus on walking. The problem was, Will didn't ever stop analyzing. It was how he had stayed alive this long.

And the perfect subject was right in front of him. Flint was not consumed with physical pain, but rather that of the emotional kind. It was evident in the way his shoulders were so rigid, and the stiff way he walked. Like if he opened the gate for one small second, everything would all come out in one uncontrollable rush. Unstoppable, and in the end, inevitably violent. Flint must have sensed him watching him because he rolled his shoulders uncomfortably. What bugged Will the most was there was something in his manners that he should be noticing, and it bugged him like an unscratchable itch. Something he couldn't quite put a finger on, but instinct told him it was vital. Unfortunately, Will had no more time to analyze this problem, but maybe if he had, thing would have been different. Very different.

"Right through this room and into the next." Flint said, casually holding the door open. As Will stepped in, he heard the click of a lock and the sound of a pokemon being released.

"Melt the door." Flint face was unreadable, a clean slate.

"Infern!" A flamethrower attack, and there was no way either of them were getting out without teleportation. Now Will knew what that emotion was. It was determination. The kind you get when you know what you're doing is wrong, but you're going to do it anyway because you think it will help the situation.

It was also the determination of the insane.

)()()()()()()()()(

Flint turned around and locked the door, releasing Infernape at the same time. Will had turned around now, confused, not yet understanding.

"Melt the door." Flint kept his face carefully blank. A thing he had never managed before.

"Infern!" Now Will knew what was happening. He could see the beginnings of fear in his pain filled eyes. That bothered Flint, but he didn't let it show. There was now no way either of them could get out of the room without teleporting.

"Flint…What exactly are you doing?"

"I do believe you know."

"For arguments sake let's say I don't." Flint grunted. He didn't want to feel like Saturn, giving a big long speech about what he wanted and what would happen if he didn't get it.

"I want you to transport me the where Volkner is."

"Flint I can't do that. I'm too weak, the vision it-" Will didn't have the chance to finish before Flint slammed him against the wall, drawing a grunt of pain. Flint eyes twitch slightly, but he didn't care. He wasn't changing courses. Not now.

"You _will_ get me there. I don't care about your vision. None of that matters now. All I need you to do is get me there."

"I. Can't. Don't you understand? I don't have enough energy." Will sounded a little desperate now, even struggling slightly, his feet flailing out slightly, arms straining against Flint's hold.

"Well why don't we see how fast Infernape can put the energy back in you?" Will's eyes flashed back and forth between Flint, who was still holding him against the wall, and Infernape, who was palming his fist, determination and resolution written on its face.

"Please. Please don't." Now he sounded desperate, the panic rising in his voice. Flint's resolution almost broke then, but he bit back his feelings. Volkner needed him now more than ever before.

Flint stepped aside, letting Infernape grab Will's collar roughly. The purple haired man's breathing sped up, almost to hyperventilation speed.

"Please." Will pleaded. Even without seeing the expression on his face, Flint knew it was one of complete desperation. It took all of his strength just to keep his face blank. He regretted this now. It wasn't Will's fault that he had failed Volkner. But Will could make it better, and there was no turning back now. Flint nodded to Infernape.

"Innnnfeeeeeeern!" was the cry Infernape let out as he catapulted Will into the opposite wall. There was a cry of pain and some coughing as the air rushed back into Will's lung.

"You can stop this all right now Will."

"I don't have the power right now!" Will all but screamed. Flint shrugged and again nodded to Infernape.

Infernape picked Will up by the collar again, throwing him from over its head into the couch. The poor psychic tumbled to the floor coughing up blood. Feeling his ribs, he thought he could feel where one or two had broken and moved. Flint lost his resolve when Will screamed out in pure agony.

)()()()()()()(

Will could see even through the pain that Flint didn't want to do what he was doing. Blood ran down the corner of his mouth, creating a small red puddle on the blue carpet. Flint was kneeling besides him now. Will fumbled with two pokeballs, the blood on his hands from covering his mouth almost causing them to slip out of his glistening fingers.

"Please," He coughed, spewing more blood. Air rattled back into his lungs again. "Please no more. My Xatus should be able to get you there through a combined effort. Though it may not be very accurate."

"Why didn't you just do that before?"

"Because I was afraid you might end up in a wall." Will said with a smile. Flint chuckled through glistening eyes at the hint that he no longer really cared if he ended up in a wall or not.

"Thanks. So much. And I'm sorry. Really Will, I am." Will closed his eyes, gasping at the pain of breathing.

"Xatu, make sure you both stay out of the fight. I don't like having you so far away." Both Xatus nodded solemnly. They really wanted to get their master out of this horrible room and then extract revenge upon Flint, but they were well trained. Will knew this. He then rolled on his back, collapsing into a small heap of purple-stained-red.

)()()()()()()(

Flint sighed as he felt himself being transported through a great amount of space. He was glad he had remembered to recall Infernape. Flint felt bad, but had no doubt in his mind that Will had gone through worse. What he didn't know was that Will had never been that weak when he had gone through those experiences. Maybe if he did he wouldn't have just left him there. But he hadn't known any of the details of Will's past experiences, thus assuming that he had visions rather frequently. That would latter turn into a rather condemning factor.

The Xatus came out of their teleportation trance as Flint stumbled and fell. He could hear voices a couple of floors above him, and guessed that the Xatu had been slightly off in their calculations. That, or they were getting revenge. But Flint didn't care, not really. He was here. So he raced up the stairs as fast as he could. The elevator had unfortunately stopped working due to a power outage.

Flint's heart raced. What if he was too late? What would he do if Volkner was already dead and they were just cleaning up a pile of ashes? The fire trainer's breathing became harsh, not from exhaustion, but from desperation. What would he do?

Another flight of stairs and Flint burst through a doorway that had one door hanging off its hinges and the other door missing. There was the sound of creaking of machines, and Flint knew what that meant. They had only just started up that horrible machine Will had described. Now he was cursing his footwear.

There was a group of strangely dressed uniform people standing around that looked nice enough. He yelled at them.

"Stop that!" The closest two turned and looked. The taller, nicer looking one with a cowboy hat was the first one to say something.

"Who are you?" It was cool, even, and confident. But Flint had no time for it. The other one with a wannabe afro (yes, even in a crisis Flint had time to compare afros, however briefly) was looking him over in disbelief.

"The name's Flint of the Sinnoh Elite Four, and I request that you stop that machine!"

**Almia Tower- Now at the top**

Volkner shook his head like a dog, trying to clear the water out of his eyes. It was times like this that he regretted his spiked hair. It could be so long. Then he thought he heard a familiar voice.

"Stop that!" _Could it be?_

"Who are you?" _It couldn't be…_ Now he really regretted his hair style.

"The name's Flint of the Sinnoh Elite Four, and I request that you stop that machine!" _It was!_

"Ah! Volkner!" One of his eyes managed to see out of the shaggy mass.

"Flint?" Volkner managed weakly. Was that the highest volume he could force his voice to? Really?

"Volk! I'm going to get you out of that!"

"Flint…Don't." Volkner could feel the buzz in the air that always proceeded a Thunder attack. Normally he lived for that buzz, but now…

"I'm here now! Everything's all right!" Flint obviously thought it was that easy.

"Flint…I'm sorry." A tear that could be mistaken for rain rolled down his face, and then Volkner's whole world exploded in pain.

)()()()()()(

"Ah! Volkner!" Flint yelled. He face stretched into a smile. He wasn't too late! Volkner was shaking his head like he was attempting to remove his nose.

"Flint?" Came a weak tentative voice as if he didn't want to quite believe that it really was Flint. But weak. That had never, ever been a word he would use to describe Volkner unless in conjunction with 'not'. What had they done to him?

"Volk! I'm going to get you out of that!"

"Flint…Don't." The voice was hopeless.

"I'm here now! Everything's all right!"

"Flint…I'm sorry." Flint opened his mouth to ask why he was apologizing when there was a flash of yellow and a loud sound of thunder.

Volkner screamed, his back arched and he strained against the cuffs that bound him to that horrible machine. He screamed again, long and draw out as the electricity raced through him, sparking and leaping over his skin and through his clothes, seemingly laughing like faceless devils. They wrapped their vicious claws around Volkner and pounded pain into every cell, warping and sizzling. They didn't even spare a though to the blonde's pain, but rather, it drove them into a frenzy, moving faster, more savagely until they were drawn into the main component of the machine itself.

Just as the last of the sparks were disappearing, the heavens dropped another bolt of agony upon Volkner, as if punishing him for some horrible crime. Or, maybe they were just punishing Flint.

Flint stood there shaking, his rage barely contained. Volkner was in a terrible amount of agony, and there was nothing he could do. There was a mad cackle from somewhere above, where he had been so focused on Volkner that he hadn't even looked. There was a crazy scientist laughing and screaming, "Success, success! All my life work is working!" Another scream tore itself from Volkner's lips.

Flint looked at him sharply. Volkner hadn't ever screamed like this! How many times had he taken a blast of powerful electricity? He'd once been hit by a shock cannon at close range and had barely cried out! There was even one time that Volkner had been working on the solar panels and was hit by a huge concrete pipe and knocked into a sparking generator. Volkner had never, ever screamed like this, had never been in so much pain! And it was all because of him. It was all because of stupid numbskull Flint.

Flint clenched his fist and closed his eyes as another rumble, and another scream.

**Almia Tower- One Floor Down**

Koga wasn't joking when he had called and told him that there was a Team Dim Sun problem in the area. Lance sighed as he dodged a sloppy punch as the side of his head. He whipped his cape into the man approaching him from behind and roundhouse kicked them both. Then he brought his elbows back into two more faces. These goons were nothing compared to Rockets who were used to fighting, and fighting dirty. The rangers were to docile to make these guys actually have to learn how to fight.

Lance sighed and whipped the last one in the face with the corner of his cape, feinting to the left, swinging his fist into the right side of his face. Lance let him smirk in a sort of evil triumph before swishing of to glance up at the opening in the ceiling.

"Blaze…" The Blaziken looked kind of bored with the whole ordeal.

"It's okay, I feel your pain." Blaziken snorted in disbelief. It had obviously adopted it's master's personality. There was a scream from above and Lance looked up sharply as thunder rumbled, closely accompanying the bright light from above. Lance felt Blaziken tense.

"Go up and see what's happening really quick please." Blaziken nodded and disappeared, reappearing almost seconds later. 'A machine that absorbing electricity through a humam then? Hmm' Lance strode over to the machine to look for a control panel. Of course there were none to be found.

"Hmm, bummer." Lance shrugged. He supposed he probably should help, but who knows why they put him up there? Besides, so much less human pollution.

"_Poison running through my veins/and it's poison!" _Lance sighed and picked up his phone.

"Yes?" Lance grumbled, still annoyed over the ring tone.

"Lance I forgot you were down there!" Koga said, showing more emotion than probably ever before.

"Thanks. That makes me feel loved."

"Never mind that. One of the Sinnoh region gym leaders was captured and taken to Almia. Is there any way you could help him?" Lance sighed.

"How'd you figure out he was here without being here?"

"Will had one of his visions." Koga's voice wasn't quite so excited and Lance frowned.

"Can I talk to him?"

"He already left the room. Said he was tired."

"Hmm, alright. I'll help the gym leader, but do me a favor and find Will. Make sure he isn't passed out on the floor somewhere alright? Call me if you find him."

"Will do Lance." And that was it. Koga hung up. He'd never been a man of many words. Lance knew he'd find Will. Will who had a habit of sleep walking and waking up screaming in the night. Though Lance was not one to talk. He himself had vivid nightmares from his missions in Rocket bases.

Lance shook his head and lifted up a hinged area for maintenance on the machine. Three wires were there. Lance pulled a face wondering why they couldn't just have an 'Emergency Shut Off' button. But no, that would be too easy.

The dragon trainer looked at each respectively. Red was usually the best bet to cut, but then again in so was green. And now that he thought about it, blue was also normally a good choice too.

"Great, just great."

"Blaze…" Lance knew the meaning of what Blaziken was thinking. The he needed to seek a professional's help. But the only professional he knew was half way around the world and was most likely sleeping. He picked up his phone and dialed. It rang three times, and he could have sworn he heard someone muttering on the other end of the line.

"Hello?" It was a deeper, but very feminine voice that was groggy from being woken up.

"I need your help."

"Lance do you have any _idea_ of what time it is here?"

"Ummm, early?" Lance rubbed the back of his head.

"Yes early." There was a sigh. "What did you need? Are the connections not working?"

"No, Team Dim Sun is causing problems here, and I have to destroy this machine, but I don't know which wire to cut. There's a red, blue, and green one." There was an exasperated sigh at the other end of the line.

"Lance, Lance, Lance. Tell me how long have you been on field missions?"

"Um, quite a few years now." Another sigh, as if it was a rhetorical question.

"Hand the phone to Blaziken please." Lance did as he was told, watching as Blaziken nodded at unheard commands. Up above him Lance could hear a long drawn out scream of agony. Now there'd be another scene to play out in his nightmares. It would join scenes of Rocket massacres and torture rooms. Of dismal dungeons where there wasn't the slightest ray of hope. It would mix in with the scenes of thoughtless killings committed by men with no conscience, or if they had had one, it was long since gone, driven out by years of ruthless training.

Lance had his train of thoughts sent derailed and off the side of a cliff as Blaziken sent a blaze kick into the side of the machine. It was soon to be followed by an enormous flamethrower. 'What power. It even rivals that of my dragons.'

There were some minor explosions throughout the machine. Excess electricity sparked dangerously around the dragon trainer's feet. Looking up, Lance decided it would be best if he started taking care of more immediate things up above, before one of those thunderbolts killed the poor guy. Who could really tell how many thunderbolts Zapdos had already dumped on him?

"Go, Dragonite!" The yellow-orange dragon pokemon popped out of its pokeball. Lance had never understood how the evolution went from short blue snake thing, to long, blue, pretty snake thing, to not long, not blue, not pretty, and defiantly not snake like. Oh well. Shaking his head he hopped on the Dragonite.

"Up, up, and away!"

)()()()()()()()()(

Volkner had lost count of all he had been struck by lightning. What he did understand was that he was on fire. All the things that made him up were screaming out in pain, their cacophony overloading his brain. From the few breaths he sucked in, he could smell the burning of his skin and hair. Another scream torn itself from his mouth, though he willed it to remain behind. He was weak, he knew it. But he didn't want it to show. Not now. Not in his final moments. Not ever. A final scream ripped through the air, then silence, except for the rumbling of thunder.

* * *

**The end.**

**This story was dead. Sorry. But this is the end.**

* * *

Just kidding. Okay, so I had to have had someone get excited over that being the end!!!!! I know I would have. Actually, I probably would have been so mad, I would have stopped reading, then come back later to see why the author had that horrible ending with so many unanswered questions. Copy and paste this in your comment if I had you going: "The author likes to mess with people, and I got the equivelant of a Rick Roll. I just got Rick Rolled story style." Until someone copy and pastes that, the story shall not go on! Jk. But really, do post that. I won't be happy until someone does.

Anyways. First poor Will. But, blame Rikkamaru. He was talking about HM slave/sacrifice pokemon, like Linoone. Yup, yup, yup. Also, Legend of Zelda 4 life who has an addicting story with Ninjas. On a side note, ninjas aren't very nice...

Anyways, please review! Reviews are sooooooo encouraging. I know. I'm begging for reviews. You know you do to.

LoZ4L, if you tell me to update sooner, I'm gonna have to go ninja. DX I'm sorry, but I don't have the superpower of updating five times in one week and coming up with a decent chapter :P

Remember copy and paste: "The author likes to mess with people, and I got the equivelant of a Rick Roll. I just got Rick Rolled story style." You know you want too!


	12. Chapter 12

So here it is. The final chapter of this story. So you'd best enjoy it while it last!

* * *

)()()()()()()()()(

Koga had been walking around the rather large Sinnoh League HQ for quite some time and had yet to see any sign of Will. He had already checked all the bedrooms, bathrooms, and training rooms. There were various closets that had to be checked and the ninja still had no clue how many living areas. With a sigh Koga moved away from the closet he had just finished checking. Of course Lance would ask of him a rather difficult job that would consume his precious time.

The poison type trainer came to a dead end in the hallway. Koga was just about to turn around when the acrid smell of melted metal reached his sensitive nose. He slowly wheeled around to inspect the wall once again. Now that he looked at the wall closer, there appeared that there was once a door here.

'_Dang these people and their fondness for shiny metal!'_ Koga gave the door an experimental push. The door didn't yield a bit.

'_Even a Machamp with its training belt off wouldn't be able to knock this down. Good thing I have something even better.' _With a small smile Koga withdrew a minimized pokeball from his belt.

"Go, Muk!" It wasn't spoken a yell like most trainers do. No, it was a soft whisper, like a soft breeze moving through the leaves only rustling them slightly. There was a small, low key tone and a brief flash of red.

"Muk." This too was soft, though not as soft as its trainer's.

"Acid." The corrosive mix shot out of its mouth, dissolving the metal faster than a teaspoon of water would in a gallon of pure water.

Koga's first action was to scan the room for danger. Though he didn't suppose that there was any here, training stuck. After the quick scan, Koga thought that maybe the door had just been accidentally melted shut, but then his sharp eyes pick up the small lump of purple and…blood red.

"Ah, snap."

)()()()()()()(

"VOLKNER!" Flint yelled again rushing forward, only to have his progress halted by the Pokemon Rangers.

"GET OUT OF MY WAY!!"

"This is ranger business. You have no business here."

"AS IF! HE'S DIEING AND YOU'RE JUST GONNA LET HIM HANG THERE?"

'_Sheez this guy yells a lot.' _Thought Sven. Okay, look intimidating. Don't let his yelling give you a headache.

"Calm down. We're working on it right now."

"CALM DOWN? YOU WANT ME TO-" Flint was cut off mid yell by a loud explosion and the groaning and shrieking of torn metal.

"What was that?" As soon as the guy in the cowboy hat turned Flint rushed past, already reaching for a pokeball. Lopunny would be best due to the pouring rain. Before the red head could even call out his pokemon, there was a battle cry from somewhere under the machine and an enormous Dragonite shot out.

The crazy little man that had been jumping up and down with a happy look on his face now looked confused and a little scared.

"Who are you!?" The man ("Dr. Crazy") asked as a caped man dropped off his Dragonite and on to the platform. Before the guy had a chance to respond a lightning bolt snaked out of the sky towards Volkner.

"DRAG!" With a determined look in its eye, the dragon sent a Thunder from its antennae right back at it, hitting it halfway there.

"Now that's more like it." The caped man said with a smug smile.

)()()()()()()(

"Will!" Koga rushed over next to the lump, adjusting the form a little to get a better view of him. Will's eye were partly lidded and unfocused.

"Will what happened?" No answer. "Will! Will answer me!" Koga gave him a soft shake. There was a muffled gasp of pain in response.

"What happened? Will I need to know!"

"Flint."

"What about him?"

"He wanted to see Volkner."

"And?"

"And he threw me into the wall and over the back of the couch." Will was strained for breath Koga knew, but he needed answers. Though Flint didn't seem strong enough to throw people around.

"Flint threw you into a wall?"

"Well," gasp for breath "it was actually his Infernape." Now it made sense. Will coughed and closed his eyes drawing in a rattling breath.

"Will?" There wasn't a response, not even a rattling breath.

)()()()()()()(

Lance hadn't noticed before how high the platform was. Not that he was afraid of heights, he just didn't want to fall.

"Now why don't you be a good mad scientist and let the blond man down so we can all go home early?"

"No. Don't make me go ninja on you!" The crazy little man took up an odd pose that looked like one of those cheesy ninja movies where their mouth s didn't match their words.

"I'm so afraid. What are you trained in? The ancient art of origami?" There was a narrowing of eyes.

"Don't mock me." Lance had to smile at this.

"You know what, I'm going to call you Dr. Crazy. It just fits you." Lance had just enough time to duck a round house kick to his head and block a solid punch his stomach.

"Woah now, Dr. Don't want you getting hurt now." Lance didn't have a chance to get more words in because he was assaulted by a hail of punches and kicks. He ducked and weaved, though how long he could keep it up he didn't know. And Dragonite was getting worn out countering the punches. Lance looked up at Dragonite. That was his mistake as he caught a punch to the face. He slid back on the slick surface, accidentally touching the electrically charge surface of the machine. If he hadn't been wearing he cape, which was resistant, he probably would have absorbed quite a bit more. Still though, it hurt and left him momentarily dazed.

"Who's laughing now, hot shot?" Dr. Crazy took out a knife and brought it down.

)()()()()()()(

"Gosh, where do you think Koga roamed off to?" This was a new arrival that belonged to Johto. Her hair was a silvery blond, and Lucian couldn't decide quite what color it was.

"I honestly don't know Karen. He said Lance asked him to look for Will." Her expression grew worried.

"What was wrong with Will?"

"He had a vision. But he looked like he'd recover."

"That's not good. He's totally drained after those happen. I've never witnessed one, but when we were involved in that organization, I know that the mask would…well let's just say that the mask would induce those visions somehow." Bruno raised his eyebrow but said nothing more.

A long silence stretched out for what seemed like a half hour of just staring. Lucian was happy though. He could read his book without any interruptions. Now where was he..?

'_Bring, Bring'_ It was one of those ridiculous ringtones that sounded like an old telephone.

"Hello? Koga? What is it? What! No way! Of course. Of course. I'll be right up." Karen grew more worried throughout the conversation.

"What happened?" Bruno asked his look carefully blank.

"Something happened to Will."

)()()()()()()()(

Quite frankly, Flint could care less about the spiky redhead that was ducking fists and dodging kicks. Flint couldn't see a way up the platform yet. He was frantic.

'_Almost there!'_ Flint had almost run close enough to get a good look at Volkner.

The first thing he look for was if he was still breathing, which he was, in very strained breaths. The next thing he noticed that he was horribly filthy and beaten up. Dirt was smeared all over the blonde's face, mixing with the blood that was dripping from his hair line. The blue jacket was shredded, from what Volkner couldn't tell. But there were bruises that were a horrible colors and deep cuts running all over his body.

"Volkner…"That soft word was all Flint could manage. He knew this was all his fault. Volkner was suffering because of _him. _The same person that Volkner had known and trusted all his life! Flint got angry, with himself. With himself and those who had organized this. The afroed man didn't notice how hard he was clenching his fist until blood started running down his hands. Clenching his eyes tight one last time, he open them with a determined look in his eyes. Stepping back a few paces, Flint got a running start and jumped the gap, barely grabbing the edge.

The spiky haired man was about to die at the hands of Dr. Crazy.

)()()()()()()()(

"Who's laughing now, hot shot?" Dr. Crazy took out a knife and brought it down.

Lance raised a hand to protect himself, but found it unnecessary. Dr. Crazy's death stroke had been stopped by a large Blaziken, who was clenching the Dr.'s arms.

"Blaze." It said shaking its head.

"Woah, that Blaziken's huge!" Lance looked down to see an afro poking over the edge of the platform.

"And who are you?" The dragon trainer asked, quirking an eyebrow.

"Flint. Of the Sinnoh Elite Four. Now will you help me down please?"

"Nope. You got yourself up there, you can get yourself down."

"But I might die!"

"Too bad. On second thought, if I help you up, will you get that guy of the machine _after_ I shut it down? Key word being after."

"Of course!" The excitement was barely contained (no kidding) and Lance just rolled his eyes. Maybe he'd get electrocuted and provide some source of entertainment. Either way, Lance held out his hand, helping him up rolling his eyes again as the grown man practically skipped over to the blond.

"Is he still breathing?" Lance asked, hope in his voice.

"Ya, thank goodness."

"Dang it." _That makes it so much harder. Now I actually have to shut this thing down._

"What was that?"

"I said 'Oh boy, I can barely contain my overwhelming excitement!'."

"That's what I thought but I wasn't sure." Lance literally face palmed. How did he get that out 'Dang it'? Two words verses nine, two of them being rather long.

When Lance looked at the podium with buttons on it he was at a loss. He turned to the Blaziken who was still holding the scientist. It looked then shrugged his shoulders, pointing to the phone.

Lance dialed. At first he didn't think the person was going to pick up. Then…

"You're calling _again_?" There were voices in the background.

"You have people over?"

"I couldn't get back to sleep, and Garret was already up so we decided to watch a movie. Van Helsing to be exact."

"Who's this Garret person? Do I know him?"

"Um ya. Remember, went to school with him. We're kinda shorta like brother and sister, yet close cause we don't fight as much." Lance relaxed at the 'brother and sister' part, but still couldn't recall him.

"Um…Still drawing a blank."

"From the Go-Rock Quad you numbskull!" Someone else shouted from the background. Lance looked taken aback a second until he heard

"Be nice Billy! I'm sure he probably see quite a few people a day." Now he remembered Garret. He had the slightly annoying punkish older brother.

"Anyway, why did you call?"

"I don't know how to shut this machine down. I got to the panel, but it's still…electrical." As if to back him up the strange man behind him poked it and was shocked.

"Hmm, what model?"

"Model? There's more of these things?"

"Is it silver or black?"

"Looks pretty silver to me." Man, how did she remember this?

"Good then press the red button. Now the green. Red again. Next the blue. Type in 45, 65, 75. Now turn the dial full turn counter clockwise. Now halfway around clockwise. Now the purple button."

"There's a purple button?"

"Top right of the panel."

"Okay, is there any reason I'm doing this? It's not working."

"Just hit the purple button." Was all the exasperated voice at the other end said. Lance hit the button and there was a loud 'whoomp'. A pillar of electricity shot into the sky from somewhere down below, narrowly missing the platform.

"There ya go. Now I'm going to get back to my movie. Bye Lance! Talk to you later!" Lance smiled. So she did reciprocate his feelings. It was obvious she just felt awkward picturing him in her mind. Yup, that had to be it.

)()()()()()()(

There was yelling. Cries, snarls, laughing. Everything circling inside his mind was giving Volkner a migrane. Now someone was moving him. Maybe this was death. Knowing what was happening but not being able to understand it. Pain shot through his body. Agony, burning, the smell of charred skin. Burning hair. Rubber that was melted. More pain.

Now Volkner was on his back. Someone was shaking him. Shaking him slightly. Volkner opened his eyes slightly. He was going to tell them to let him go back to being dead. He had relief. Relief from everything that was happening. The pain.

When he did open his eyes he saw Flint and a guy with spiky red hair that seemed to defy gravity.

"VOLK! You're alive! I was afraid you were brain dead or something." There was a huge smile plastered across his face. It disgusted him. He was smiling at his pain. This was _his_ fault. So what if he was here now? He had once again messed things up. First he got him into this mess, now he had to take him away from that desolate oblivion.

"Get away from me! Don't touch me! I don't ever want to see your ugly face again!" Volkner yelled as loud as he could, which wasn't very loud. Flint drew back hurt, letting go of his shoulders. Finally, he could return to that oblivion.

"Oh no you don't! There's no way you're going to die after I spent my time saving your sorry butt! Now we're going to the hospital whether you like it or not!" And Volkner didn't fight. He just slipped into the darkness.

)()()()()()()(

The dragon trainer had gotten the situation solved. Crawford was more than happy with the result. Somebody was escorting the crazy little man away who was happily yelling:

"Operation Devastate is a go! It's worked! Yes, my whole life's work is working! Mahahahahahahhahah!" Such on and such on.

"Hmm, wonder what he meant by that?" Crawford mused aloud.

"I don't know…" Luana said, still out of it. The afroed man just sighed.

"You know…"

"Guess what! Guess what guys! Ice is alive!" This was Ollie the guy who the base had adopted after starting a forest fire and nearly killing himself in the process.

"What?!"

"Ya, he landed on some short of trampoline thing that caped guy set up just in case _he_ fell, and it caught Ice! He's just unconscious!"

"That's amazing!" Crawford had never seen Luana so happy. But he smiled anyways. What made her happy, made him happy.

)()()()()()()(

The next few by in a blur. Volkner woke up a few times here and there.

"He could die over night…" _die? Well that can't be good…_

"Looks like he'll make it. It's a good thing you got him out of there Lance." _Got who off there? Off of where?_

"He need a place…stay. He doesn't…stay." _What did he say? Dang this grogginess._

"He can have a job…league. We…have …opening." _Opening? Opening for what? For who?_

"When will he wake up? Do you have any idea?"

"It's been three weeks. My guess is soon. Though he was in horrible condition." _Once again it the male then the female. Who are these people? And what's been three weeks?_

"Hey, looks like he's walking up!" It wasn't the same female voice, this one was higher, happier. More nerve grating…

Volkner groggily opened his eyes. The first thing he saw was the sanitary white of hospital walls. Then a girl looking happy in some short of uniform.

"I'll look after him. You won't be needed here." This was the male's voice from before. He followed the girl's glare to the corner where the red head was blending into the shadows. Which happened to be quite a feat, seeing as he was dressed in black and the walls were white.

"Hi, my name's Lance."

"Volkner." _Why is my voice so raspy?_

"Believe me, I definitely know your name by now. I've had to keep a constant stream of people out. Which kept me away from my league member who's currently in critical care, that is if he's still alive. He's in there because of _your_ friend." Lance didn't appear happy, but he wasn't really made _at_ Volkner, just his situation.

"What friend?" Volkner was drawing a blank. He couldn't think of anyone he knew (besides Cyrus and Saturn) that could put a person in critical care.

"The creepy happy clown with the afro and flip flops."

"Oh, he's not my friend anymore." Lance raised an eyebrow, then nodded.

"That makes sense. So, any plans for after you get out of the hospital?" Volkner hadn't thought about that. He hadn't really thought of anything. At the moment, he was too drugged up.

"No…"

"Good, cuz boy do I have the place for you!"

)()()()()()()(

Saturn hated this disguise. The stupid coat was too long and dragged upon the ground. But it was perfect for what he was doing.

The blue haired man was right outside the Sunyshore gym. Saturn sighed and knocked.

"Hello!" The girl was young with light brown hair and a cute smile. She might look young but Saturn knew he was just two years her senior, meaning she wasn't that young. Though, she wasn't as experienced as the last gym leader.

"Hello!" Though Saturn forced the happiness, he was a wonderful actor.

"Are you here for a challenge?"

"Yes, actually. I'm here to challenge you for your heart." That was one of my own lines Saturn though smugly. She put her finger against her mouth.

"I've never heard that one before."

"So does that mean you'll join me for dinner?" Saturn added in his most dashing smile.

"Well sure, I guess I will! Todd, I'm closing down the gym!" Saturn momentarily tensed thinking that it was an actual person.

"O-kay." Came a robotic voice and Saturn relaxed. He held out his arm and she took it gratefully, latching on right away. Saturn smiled coolly, leading her down the solar panel walkway into the twilight.

Operation Devastate was a go

* * *

Well, I liked it. I thought the ending was pretty interesting. For all of you that are wondering what happens next, let me know. I want to start a new story that's after this one detailing what's happening with Will, what's happening with Volkner, and what not.

So let me know, is it an epic fail, awesome, stupid, you should give up writing, that kind of stuff. But, then again, if you say I'm an epic fail, for the rest of your lives you'll wonder what Operation Devastate is, but never know. *evil laugh*

Please, please, please review! Oh and an enormous thank you to all my reviewers! I couldn't have done it without you!!!!!


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